Project Seven: Living with the Witwicky's
by burnt.rose84
Summary: Before Cat and the Autobots moved to the Dam, there were a few months that they enjoyed in Tranquility. It was the first few months that Cat saw what it was like to live with a real family, and experience all the fun and frustration that comes with it.
1. Lamp Fiasco

Hey guys!

So here's my thought. I figured that I kinda skimped out on giving these little side stories to you guys, because I was in such a rush to get into the sequel. But while I'm ahead on the Soul Recon, and find myself at an impasse, writing these little shorts gives me something to help clear my head. It also helps when I've been stressing out about a lot of things here lately. I've been being overly critical about how my trip to Vegas is going to work out, worrying about everything with flying there. I haven't flown in ten years, and when I did, I had my entire family flying with me. This time I'm taking a solo flight, and I've never been more than a few minutes away from friends and family before, so I'm stressing out about everything...

Anyway, I thought that writing these little drabbles would help me clear my head, as well as give you guys something to look forward to while I make you wait forever and a day for chapters from Soul Recon.

Now this first chapter is part of the flashback from chapter nine in the Soul Recon series, but I'm posting chapter two right away so I can give you guys something new.

So here it is! Let me know what you think!

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers, and claim no ownership to anything in this story that is under anyone else's copyright. The only thing I own in this story is my character "Cat".

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"Really, Cat, there's nothing I'd like more than to have someone else do _all_ of the work, but you're not supposed to be up and around so much!" Judy carefully guided the young fighter to the living room where she was hoping that Cat would take the hint and sit down to rest.

At this point Cat had only lived with the family for a few weeks She had already managed, with the aid of Sam and Mikaela as well as the rehab specialist that came out three times a week, to be rid of her walking aids completely. Although it didn't mean that her walking skills were back to one hundred percent. Her legs were still in a weakened state, and she wore down easily. At this point in time, Sam and Mikaela were out with Bumblebee, leaving Cat at home with Sam's parents.

"Are you sure? I mean, I've been sitting around here like a blob for all this time, I'm sure there's something I could do to help you out," Cat asked. Sam had warned her that being too generous would give his parents full reign over what they "needed" help with around the house. But she grew tired of being laid up all the time and being taken care of.

"Nonsense! We're doing this as a favor for you saving Sam! There's no reason for you to feel like you owe us anything!" Judy explained cheerfully.

Cat sat down in the darkening room and gave a gruff sigh, "If you insist…"

"I insist!" The older woman replied as she walked back into the kitchen to finish up cleaning after their dinner.

It was getting pretty dark outside, but of course, that didn't affect Cat. Her specialized lens in her left eye changed into it's night vision mode at her will and she quickly found the remote for the television next to the chair she was sitting in. She grabbed it off of the end table, but before she powered the television on-

"OUCH! Why are all the lights turned off in here?!" Ron stubbed his toe on the edge of the couch, across from where Cat sat.

Ron reached for a nearby lamp, which stood next to the couch. He turned the small knob to fire up the lamp, but nothing happened.

"Judy! I thought you said that you replaced the bulb in this thing?!" he yelled.

"I did! But I don't think that was the problem! I think it's time we just threw out that old thing and-" Judy yelled from the kitchen.

"No, no! Nothing doing! There's no point in throwing something away in this good of shape! I'm sure it can be fixed!" Ron replied, putting his foot down on the matter.

"Ronald, we've had that old thing since Sam was born! Besides, you don't know anything about fixing lamps! Just make it easy on yourself and go buy another one!" the woman scolded.

"You don't even know what the problem is! Maybe you didn't screw the bulb in all the way!," Ron replied with hint of sarcasm.

"….Fine! Spend your entire weekend fixing the thing yourself then! But when you give up on it, make sure it's before eight o'clock in the evening," Judy scoffed.

Ron and Cat both looked to the hallway that led to the kitchen, confused.

"Why eight?" Ron asked.

"Because, dear, that's when the Home Depot closes…" Judy stated.

Cat let out a snort of laughter, and Ron turned in her direction, having not known that she was there to begin with.

"…Sorry…" Cat stopped the laughing as soon as Ron had given her that "look".

"Didn't see you there, Cat…" he looked away for a moment but stopped, looking as if he had an idea. Looking back to Cat and squinting better to see her in the dark room, Ron asked, "Hey you're super smart. You think you can help me fix this lamp?"

Before Cat could answer, Judy's voice boomed through the hallways, "_Don't_ you dare involve that poor girl!"

"Ah, she's fine! Good to go, eh kiddo?" Ron coaxed Cat into joining him into trying to fix the lamp.

Cat was about to speak, once again, before there were several loud "booms" from down the hallway before Judy appeared, a frown on her face.

"You heard the rehab doctor! No physical exertion!" she bellowed.

"Judy, you've had her sitting around the house twenty-three hours of the day. Let the kid get up and around now and then, will you?" Ron argued.

"If we let her roam around too much, she'll exhaust herself, and that other big, scary, yellow thing will be around here more often! I'm surprised the neighbors haven't noticed that our backyard has turned into an interstellar lounge area, yet!"

"So what if the neighbors notice?! Who would believe them? Let them announce it on the six o'clock news, for all we care! They'd lock them up in the psych ward and throw away the key!" Ron rebutted.

At this point, Judy was about to throw a fit. She pointed a finger in her husbands face, but the darkness in the room was suddenly lifted. The lamp had turned on, seemingly by itself. Ron and Judy looked to Cat, who was now standing near the wall, dumbfounded.

"It was uh… It was unplugged," the girl smiled sheepishly.

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No Chapter Teasers for this story. These are just little ficlets, so I'm not going to worry about it.


	2. Cat Vs The Mall

And, like I said, here's the second chapter that I'm posting for your extra entertainment!

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers. I own Cat. I also claim no ownership to anything trademarked that is mentioned at any point in my story.

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"Why did I agree to this again?" Cat whined as she stared out the backseat window with a look of dismay.

"You can't possibly tell me that you're happy with those rags from the hospital, can you?" Mikaela scolded.

"Well, no. But the last time I had to buy clothes-" Cat was cut off.

"The last time you had to buy clothes, you were buying new ones because your old ones were ripped from fighting. Plus you didn't have _me_ with you as your guide to the clothing world," the teen girl smiled cheerfully from her position in the passenger seat.

"Oh brother," Sam rolled his eyes. He sort of saw things from both sides. On the one hand he agreed with Cat, whole heartedly, that shopping was a long, drawn out process that could bring anyone to their knees from exhaustion and boredom. On the other hand, Cat needed clothes and badly. She only had the last pair of clothes from her battle, which were wore and torn, and some old clothes from Mikaela that barely fit over her muscle-ripped arms and upper body.

"What was that?" Mikaela narrowed her eyes at Sam and crossed her arms.

"N-nothing..." the boy wisely kept quiet.

"That's what I thought," Mikaela's glare had lifted back into her cheerful smile.

It wasn't that Cat really cared that she was going to be spending part of her first stipend check, it was that, until just a few weeks ago, she had never worried about needing to deal with unknown humans. Her right arm and left eye were what worried her the most. Other than those two details, she might have looked like your average twenty-something woman. However she knew that she was going to have to put up with being stared at as though she were a circus attraction. She sighed.

"Don't worry about it," Mikaela suddenly spoke up, sending Cat's gaze up to meet her friend's blue eyes.

"Worry about what?" Cat asked.

"I can tell that you're worried about being out in the public eye. Don't let anyone bother you. No one could possibly know, or understand the real you," Mikaela smiled again in reassurance.

"Plus we'll be with you the entire time," Sam added, looking back at the older girl every few seconds in Bumblebee's rearview mirror, "So if anyone has something to say," he brought his hands up in a karate chop position, "They'll have to deal with _us_!"

There was a pause of silence before both Cat and Mikaela rumbled in laughter. Sam muttered under his breath and continued his hold on the steering wheel to appear as if he were driving. Bumblebee played "Eye of the Tiger" over the radio to support his young charge in his attempt to seem like kind of person not to contend with.

"Thanks Bee..." Sam appreciated the little support.

As soon as Mikaela and Cat were through laughing, Mikaela announced, "We're here!"

Cat cringed. Wasn't there a better way to get clothes without having to make a public appearance?

Bumblebee parked in the "boondocks" parking so that no one would park next to him and scuff his paint. It wasn't that he really cared that he would get a small dent now and then, it was the idea of dealing with Ratchet if the medic had caught sight of numerous amounts of them if he were to be in a bad mood. Sam just plain didn't want Bee to get all dented up. He was, after all, his stylish ride.

The mech opened his doors to allow the trio of humans to slide out. Before Cat had scooted over to wait for Mikaela to get out so the seat could be pushed forward, Cat whispered, "Get me out of this and I promise I'll hand wash you myself! I'll even wax you!" she pleaded.

The seat bent itself forward and the radio softly played, "No dice," from a voice of a mafia cartoon character from "The Simpsons".

"...Traitor..." Cat muttered as she set foot outside of the Camaro, the doors closing gently behind them.

--

Cat felt herself being pulled in the direction of several stores.

"Let's go here! No wait, let's try this one! No... We should definitely go here!" Mikaela was like a kid in a candy store. She planned helping Cat pick out an entire new wardrobe, no matter how long it took.

Sam understood Cat's frustration, but decided to stand back and let his girlfriend do her thing.

"How about just something that fits?" Cat suggested.

"Shopping for clothes is _more_ than just trying to find something that fits! It's about looking your best and showing off what you've got!" Mikaela replied as she led the other two into a store and started digging through racks and racks of clothing.

"Here, try on this, and this, and these," the brunette piled on jeans and shirts of all sorts, then shoved her friend towards the dressing booths, "And don't just try it on and take it right off! I want to see them!"

Sam sat down on one of the chairs in waiting, knowing that this could take some time. He was thinking that maybe he should have just let Mikaela borrow Bumblebee and take Cat out on her own... Oh well...

Mikaela walked out from the changing area and started to look through the racks again, looking for more outfits for her friend.

"Mikaela?" a girl's voice asked from another set of clothing racks, just a few feet away.

Mikaela looked up to see one of her friends from school and smiled, "Charlotte! Long time no see!"

The girl walked out from behind the clothing racks, just a little bit taller than Mikaela, herself. Her hair was blonde, her body almost as slim as Cat's when they had first met her. She slowly made her way over to Mikaela, her eyebrows raised a little in suspicion.

"Yeah, I guess," her eyes strayed over to Sam, who was sitting with his arms crossed and his head laid all the way back, looking at the ceiling, "Since when did you become such great friends with Wetinky?"

Mikaela frowned, "Witwicky... I've been friends with him for a while now. Actually we're dating now."

"Oh... I see... Anyway, it's been so long since you've hung out with any of us, what are you up to this summer?" Charlotte asked.

"Well? Here it is..." Cat's voice caused Mikaela and Charlotte to turn and look to her.

Cat was standing in the open doorway of the changing area, a scowl printed across her face as if waiting for Mikaela's response. She was wearing blue jeans that were tightly fitting, and a blue and white striped shirt.

"That's definitely a keeper! Go try on some more!" the brunette encouraged. Cat's shoulder slumped at the idea of trying more clothes on as she made her way back to the changing stall.

"Erm... Who's that?" Charlotte asked.

"Oh, that's right! None of you have met Cat yet, have you?" Mikaela suddenly realized.

"Cat? Is she a new student this year?" Charlotte asked.

"Um... no. She's -uh... A family friend of Sams'. She's staying at their house for a while," Mikaela explained, a smile still plastered on her face.

"She doesn't look very happy..." Charlotte pointed out.

"Well... Happiness isn't one of her more poignant qualities. But she's a great person, you should stay for a while and meet her," Mikaela suggested.

"Is she wearing a colored contact lens or something?" Charlotte asked.

"Uh-no... She has an eye... problem... Same with her arm," Mikaela hadn't thought about how they were going to tell others about why Cat looks the way she does, she just knew that she was going to make them understand what a good person she was.

"Her arm as an eye problem?" Charlotte raised an eyebrow.

"Oh," Mikaela laughed nervously, "No, no. She lost her right arm in an accident a long time ago, so she wears a prosthetic."

"I see..." Charlotte looked back to Sam briefly to see that he was tapping his feet to the music being played over the speakers in the store, "Well, if you ever want to get away for a while, you should hook up with me and the other girls sometime. We've all been wondering what you've been up to... When you're not babysitting Winkicky-"

"Witwicky... Sam. Witwicky..." Mikaela frowned again, "And when I want to hang out with you guys, I'll give you a call... See you around Charlotte."

Mikaela walked away towards another set of clothing racks and sighed in frustration. Charlotte gave an indignant snort and walked out of the store.

Yeah, she knew that she had skipped a lot of time with her old friends, but her life was changing in so many ways, so fast. It was hard to keep up, lately, what with helping with Cat, getting to know Sam more and more every day, keeping everyone who didn't know about the Autobots out of the loop without accidentally saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. Things were more hectic now, than when they were taking finals at the end of the school year. That, and she was currently thinking over getting a summer job so she could afford to do more things. Mikaela hoped that things would ease up by the end of the summer before school started.

"So?" Cat asked from the doorway once more, this time wearing a khaki pants and dark blue polo shirt.

Mikaela's face scrunched and her hand came up, giving the "so-so" signal, "Not so much... Next!"

Cat whined and walked back into the dressing room. As she did this, Mikaela quietly walked over to Sam and whispered, "Sam!"

The boy's face rolled over to look up at his girlfriend, a smile went from ear to ear, "Hey, we done yet?"

Mikaela cracked a half smile and playfully tapped him on the shoulder, "No... I was thinking, have we discussed what we were going to say about Cat to anyone who asked?"

"Say about her?" Sam asked, wondering what that meant.

"Yeah, like if she got into an accident and lost her arm, if she had some sort of eye... problem... Stuff like that. So no one get suspicious and somehow finds out about who she really is?" Mikaela asked.

"Oh... Um... No? Not that I know of anyway. This is the first time we've taken Cat anywhere since she's come home from the hospital, so there's never been a need for it I guess," Sam answered.

"Yeah, but I think we should sit down with the Autobots and talk about a good cover story. People might start asking her questions, and it might upset her," Mikaela replied.

"Are we done yet?" Cat asked, her eyebrow's twitched in anticipation as she showed off yet another outfit.

Sam smiled at the girl's frustration, and Mikaela giggled. Nope... Not done yet...

--

Before long, all three friends were carrying bags of different sorts of clothing. Sam and Cat looked exhausted, while Mikaela cheerfully continued on.

"Come on, you two! Not too much left to do! Just a few more stores, then we can hit the food courts!" Mikaela announced, she was practically skipping she was feeling so excited.

Sam perked up hearing her mention the food courts. He was starving! His stomach growled, apparently agreeing with him. As they continued walking, a different kind of store caught Sam's eye, and he stopped.

"Hey, can we go in here?" he asked, pointing to the store to his right.

Cat and Mikaela stopped and turned. Cat was giving Sam the "Haven't we been through enough today?!" look, while Mikaela looked over to the store.

"Electronics?" Mikaela weighed the idea of it and shrugged, "Sure, I guess we can take a break from clothing for a few minutes."

Cat scowled and Sam silently thanked whatever god there was as they headed into the small store. Sam went straight for the video games, while Mikaela looked into the clearance bins, always looking for a good deal. Cat was looking into computer software, when something caught her eye. She looked to the right of the aisle that she was in and saw a wall of cell phones. There were all different kinds of them, flip phones, PDA phones, sliding keyboard phones. There was a whole plethora of them.

"You going to get a phone?" Mikaela suddenly asked from behind, her and Sam approaching Cat.

"What do I need a cell phone for? I hardly ever leave the house, and when I do, it's with you guys," Cat turned back towards the wall of electronics.

"Well, if you get a phone, the Autobots could call you all the time like they do us," Sam laughed. He stopped his laughter right away when his own cell phone rang in his pocket. He picked the camera phone out of his pocket and looked at the caller identification, "...It's Optimus..."

Cat and Mikaela snickered as Sam walked away, shuffling bags into one hand so he could handle holding his phone easier while talking, "Hey Optimus... We're out shopping for clothes for Cat... Yeah, everything's fine... Well tell Ratchet that-" he continued to talk as he walked out of the store.

The girls began to follow Sam out of the store when Cat said, "No, that's quite all right... I've got you guys following me around too much as it is..."

Mikaela laughed.

--

"Are these the only choices?" Cat watched as Sam took a huge bite out of a "Big Mac", ketchup, mustard and little bits of burnt meat slathered on his cheeks.

"Why don't you just get a salad, if you're so worried about good food?" Mikaela asked as she took a bite out of her chicken nugget combo meal.

Cat looked over to the displays of food from one of the nearby stalls. Her left eye zoomed in on the pre-packaged salads and scanned them.

"My sense of reasoning tells me that those leafy things aren't nearly as good as you think they are..." Cat surmised.

Cat watched as the two dug into their meals, her stomach churning from the sight of them eating the over-processed items. The smell was even worse. Before long, she couldn't take it anymore, and Cat grabbed all of the bags of clothing and stood up, pushing her seat in.

"Where are you going?" Mikaela asked.

"I think I saw a fruit stand outside, on the way in... I'll just drop these off with Bumblebee and go find it," Cat answered.

"Okay, but we've still got some stuff I want you to look at, so don't take too long!" Mikaela yelled as Cat walked away.

--

Cat walked out to Bumblebee, ready to drop the bags from holding them for so long. The trunk opened automatically, allowing the girl to dump the bags happily. The trunk closed and Cat stopped to look around the area.

"I thought I saw a fruit stand somewhere... Did you happen to see one on the way in, Bee?" she asked.

"That's a negative, good buddy," a soldier's voice came over the stereo system.

Cat sighed, "I didn't think so..." she was preparing to walk back towards the mall when another building, just off in the distance made her turn and look, stopping in her tracks. She stood there for a moment before changing direction, walking towards the small building.

"Cat?" Bumblebee asked, wondering where she was heading.

"I'll... Be right back..." Cat answered the concerned voice.

Bumblebee made sure that no one was paying attention to him, as his Camaro body was normally something that caught everyone's eye. He, then, turned around in the parking lot and gave a slow pursuit to the young girl, stopping just short of not wanting to be too far out of range from his other two charges. Calling out to Cat was out of the question, given people would definitely notice a talking car. So Bee just watched as Cat approached the building.

Cat walked to the front of the building, her thoughts went straight from wanting to destroy the inventor of shopping malls, to wanting buy like there was no tomorrow. She walked to the window of the building and pressed her face against the glass.

There, before her, stood a floor model of the Hayabusa motorcycle.

"Maybe this shopping thing isn't such a bad thing after all..." Cat's mischievous smile suddenly appeared on her face... She had an idea...


	3. The Offer

Hey all! Thank you for your continuing interest in the "Project Seven" mini-series!! And thank you to GrimlockX4 for your review!

Here's the next chapter in "Witwicky" portion of Project Seven! Don't forget to check out my other stories, located safely in my profile!

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers. I own Cat and Five. (Five is not in this series, but she's still my very own little character)

--

"That one!" Cat pointed to the computer screen, Sam and Mikaela looking on in interest.

"Are you sure?" Sam asked.

"Absolutely! It's the perfect idea!" Cat replied assuredly, crossing her arms in confidence.

"Wait a minute, you don't even have a driver's license, how are you planning on just driving one of these things?" Mikaela asked, overlooking the special model of the Hayabusa on the screen.

"Well, I'll have to get my driver's license first. But after that I can take these classes at the dealership called "Abate" classes. They teach you the basics on a dirt bike, and if I do good enough I can be exempt for the driving test to get the motorcycle's license," Cat explained.

"Where'd you learn all of _that_ from?" Sam asked.

"From the salesman at the dealership. He gave me the information on the Abate classes and those catalogues on the bikes themselves. I signed up to take the classes next month, so it'll give me some time to get my driver's license," Cat explained.

"That's pretty awesome, Cat... Wish I had one..." Sam sulked.

"Aw, don't worry. You guys can ride along with me anytime you want!" Cat said cheerfully.

Sam and Mikaela smiled.

"So you're probably going to be needing Bee to drive, every so often, right?" Sam asked.

"Actually, I was hoping to use a car that didn't have a mind of it's own," Cat replied with a laugh, "Driving is one thing, being driven is another."

"Bee would let you drive him. He did when I first bought him, not knowing that he was a robot in disguise," Sam corrected.

"Nah. I had another idea," Cat grinned.

--

"I'd love to teach you, Cat!" Judy looked thoroughly gleeful, "But I'm afraid that you'll have to wait a few days. I'm going to be helping a friend of mine move, so I'll be busy using the car."

"That's cool, there's no rush. I don't have to actually have my license for another month. Besides, I already know how to drive, I just need to brush up a little on the rules of the road."

"Well, hey. I could lend you my car to use every once and while if you want, Cat," Ron suggested.

Sam's eyes went wide in shock, "You... You wouldn't even let me _wax_ it!"

"Ah," Ron brought a finger up as if to interject, "_Won't_ let you wax it, son. _Won't."_

"But... But I'm your son! And, no offense Cat, but she's not even related to you and you're just going to let her take it out for a spin?!" Sam couldn't understand it.

"Exactly. You're a boy, therefore irresponsible. She's not even a teenager, and she's nothing short of polite and responsible," Ron pointed out.

"It's okay, Sam. I only need to borrow a car for a little while at a time anyway. I doubt I'll have to drive the Porsche," she giggled, "I just need to get a driver's education info booklet from the BMV to learn the laws."

"But it's still not-" Sam attempted to argue with his father once more before the phone in his pocket began to sing.

Sam reached into his pocket and answered his phone, "Hello?... Hey Bee, what's up?... Cat?" he turned to look at the girl, "Yeah, she's here... All right, hang on buddy," Sam handed Cat his cell phone and said, "He wants to talk to you, something about the other Autobots."

Cat took the phone with a look of suspicion and said, "Hello?"

-Cat, Optimus is requesting that you and I join him, momentarily.- Bumblebee explained.

"For what?" Cat asked.

-Apparently they've received a transmission of some sorts from the American government, asking that we be present for some sort of meeting.- He replied.

"Um, okay... Where at?"

-They're giving us special permission to use a secured hanger at the nearby airfield- he answered.

"All right. I'll be out in a minute then, I suppose," Cat agreed.

-I'll inform Optimus that you'll be coming with us then. Bumblebee, out- he terminated the connection.

Cat closed the cell phone and handed it back to Sam, "I guess I'll have to borrow Bee from you tonight anyway. Optimus says that the government wants to meet us at an air hanger."

"For what?" Sam asked.

"I don't think they know. The government just asked for us to meet them there in a little while," Cat shrugged.

"We'll go with you," Sam decided before being interrupted.

"I don't think so. It's a school night, and it's already past nine-thirty. Cat will just have to go by herself," Judy turned to the girl, "Don't stay out too late, Cat."

Sam rolled his eyes, "Fine..."

The girl smirked, "I wouldn't think that it would be too long. Of course I haven't the foggiest what they're wanting this late at night," she turned to Mikaela and asked, "Speaking of which, do you want Bumblebee to take you home?"

"It's okay, I drove my moped here, remember?" Mikaela replied.

"Oh, right! All right then, I'll see you guys later," Cat sighed and walked out to the back of the house to meet the Camaro, who's driver door opened at the sight of Cat approaching.

Cat sat down in the low-riding robot and the door closed, the seatbelt flew around her, clicking into place, and the engine roared as the sleek, yellow and black vehicle pulled onto the streets of Tranquility, heading towards the airport. It wasn't more than a few minutes before Bumblebee noticed that Cat was yawning, her eyes batting slowly as she leaned her head against the seat's headrest.

"Long day?" Bumblebee's soft and gentle voice asked through the radio speakers.

Cat almost looked startled as her head lifted from the headrest and she looked to the radio. Her facial expression calmed as she relaxed against the seat again, "I'm afraid so... My first day out of the house and I was run ragged by a teenager on a mission to get me two lifetime's worth of clothing..."

"Would you rather not attend this meeting?" he asked, unsure how a human's body could handle exhaustion.

Cat smiled and replied, "I have a feeling that I need to be there. I'll be fine for now... Has anyone told you what this little meeting is about?"

"No. All that I was told was that Secretary Keller would be there, and he had something that he wished to discuss with us. That and he wanted you there," the seeker replied.

"Secretary Keller, huh?" Cat's smile faded into a small frown, "I can't help but dislike how we're in constant contact with the government..."

"I have to agree with you. However, I doubt that Keller has any ill intensions towards us," Bumblebee was doing his best to keep Cat from getting upset, however he knew that she had a distrust for anyone with high government standings.

"Yeah, I know... But even old Keller could have people pull the wool over his eyes. Hell, Bee, look at me! He didn't have a clue that me or the other six existed... Who knows what other facilities exist?"

"The only thing we can do is trust that we do what's right," he encouraged.

Cat closed her eyes, her frown disappeared into an expressionless face.

"...I suppose you're right..." she decided.

A few moments later, Bumblebee stopped in front of the guard shack in front of the restricted area of the tarmac. A guard approached the driver's side window as it slid down. An annoyed looking Cat pulled out her state identification tag and shoved it into the guard's face.

"We're to be meeting a few people..." she said coldly.

The guard took her ID tag and walked back to the shack, grabbing a clipboard which was hanging from a nail on the inside of the shack. He looked until the finger that he was using to follow down the list stopped. He grabbed a pen and wrote something onto the board, then brought it to the driver's window, handing the ID back to Cat.

"Just sign in here, ma'am," he pointed to the spot where she was to sign, and Cat grabbed the pen from his hand, scribbling her name down.

"Thank you. You're to go to hanger B-11. Just turn left right inside the gate and continue on down till you see it on the right side," he directed as the gate began to open.

"...Thanks..." Cat growled as the window slid back up and the Camaro drove through the gate, going in the direction that he was ordered to go.

Just a few seconds of traveling down the tarmac, Bumblebee stopped in front of the specified hanger. He pulled in front of the large doors, and they opened automatically. Once they were completely open, Bumblebee proceeded into the hanger, the first sight to catch his and Cat's attention were the other four Autobots in their alt forms. Bee came to a halt, releasing the seatbelt on Cat and opening the door, allowing her to slip out.

"Hey guys," she said tiredly, "So what's all this about?"

"Good evening, Cat," Optimus greeted as the five mechs transformed into their bi-pedal modes, "We're not sure. We just received word, as of moments ago, to meet here."

"Ya okay, Cat? You're lookin' a little different t'night," Jazz mentioned.

Cat smiled a little and replied, "Yeah, I'm just worn out. Sam and Mikaela had me all over the place today. If I ever have to buy clothes again, I think I'll go it alone..."

Just then, the large, bay doors opened once more, the group looking to them to see who it was that was entering. Four, large, black SUV's pulled into the bay and stopped a few feet from the inside. The giant bay doors closed, and several guards surrounded the outside. A few guards exited three of the SUV's, and one ran to the side of the third one, opening the rear passenger side's door.

Cat frowned when she saw that Secretary Keller stepped out of the SUV, along with Tom Banachek. The two men nodded at their guards and walked to within several feet from Cat and the Autobots.

Keller smiled and greeted, "Hello gentlemen," he looked down from the tall faces of the Autobots to the suspicious glance of Cat, "And good evening to you, young lady."

Cat scoffed from her spot, standing just a few inches from Bumblebee's leg. She received a sharp nudge from the yellow mech's foot and looked up at him as if to ask -What the hell was that for?!- but she could tell that he was not pleased with her behavior. She sighed and looked back towards the two U.S. officials and said, "Hi..." gruffly.

"I apologize for the circumstances, meeting so late. However, we were in the area and we had an idea that we needed to discuss with you," Keller began.

"What sort of idea?" Optimus asked.

"Well, as you know, we have disbanded sectors seven and eleven. And because of that we now have some extra space to spare. So we were wondering if, perhaps, you might like to move into the facilities as your new home?" Keller explained.

"You mean... at the Hoover Dam?" Cat asked, crossing her arms.

"Yes ma'am, right there under the noses of the American people. The facilities there could provide for these men's sizes. That way, they don't have to hide under the cover of darkness, or stay still for long periods of times," John replied.

Cat looked up to the Autobots, worrying that they might actually accept the offer.

"It _would_ give us our own facilities where we can live normally instead of having to stay in our alternate forms," Ratchet thought aloud.

"And we wouldn't have to live under such strict standards..." Ironhide added.

Cat looked to Optimus, hoping that he would be the voice of reasoning, but found him unsure as well.

"You're forgetting something else!" Cat reminded, having the Autobots turn to look at her, "You'd be a few hours away from Tranquility, where the Witwicky's and I are!"

"Well, we were also wondering if you would like to come as well, Ms. Andrews," Tom added.

Cat turned and looked at the two officials in surprise.

"You're not seriously asking me to go live there again are you?! Live as the lab rat that I used to be?!" she gave an indignant huff.

"Absolutely not! We made a promise to you after Mission City that we will never turn back on! You would be living there in an apartment that we would overhaul from many small apartments where some of the technicians used to stay on occasion," Keller replied.

"Forget it! There's just no way that you could get me back there! My nerves have handled about all they can for one lifetime without going back _there_!" Cat responded coldly.

"Obviously, we didn't expect you to answer right away. But we need a response within the next week," Tom explained.

"Why the need for such a quick answer?" Ironhide asked.

"Well, we are offering the facility to the six of you free and clear. However, there are already some companies that wish to make a bid on it. We need to know who we are going to be providing an overhaul of the facilities to, so we know what we're going to be accommodating for," Keller replied.

"Not interested," Cat put her foot down on the matter, not wanting to hear anymore nonsense.

"All right then, Secretary. We will make a decision within seven "days" as per your agreement. I'm afraid we cannot just make a quick decision about this," Optimus replied.

Cat turned around, looking to her five friends, "You're not serious?! You're actually going to consider their offer?!"

"You need to understand, Catherine, that we are not exactly of fitting size to your small, human dwellings. We may have decided to stay on Earth, but we need some space for ourselves as well," Optimus tried to explain.

"Well why don't they just build you your own facility nearby to Tranquility?!" Cat huffed.

"We considered that as well," Tom answered, causing Cat to turn and glance over her shoulder at him as he spoke, "But with there being so many people living in this area of California, it would be a very small facility, and you would most likely need to restrict your movements so that no one would be suspicious... I mean, we could do that for you, if you wanted. But to be perfectly honest, the Hoover Dam is, quite simply, the more perfect solution to meet your needs."

There was a long silence before Bumblebee spoke up, "If the four of you wish to go, then I will not oppose. But I would prefer to stay with Sam and Mikaela. I am, after all, their guardian."

Cat felt a little glimmer of hope from the pit of her stomach. At least _one_ person here thought the same way she did.

Tom looked to his watch and gave a slightly startled look. He then reached up and tapped John Keller on the shoulder, "We don't have much time to make our plane, if we're to meet with the President tomorrow morning."

Keller sighed and nodded, "I'm afraid we must be on our way. But I would greatly appreciate a reply, sooner rather than later."

"Of course, Secretary. It was a pleasure to see the both of you again," Optimus said pleasantly.

John walked over to within a foot from Cat, the girl narrowing her eyes at the older man.

"I hope that you can see that we're only asking this of you to help you out," he said as he reached forward, hoping for a handshake.

"And I hope _you_ can understand that I know how to help _myself_ out!" she walked backwards as if to deny his request for the handshake.

Keller sighed, lowering his friendly token. He turned, but stopped and looked back to Cat.

"Whenever you would like to voice your concerns to me, I will always be available for you and your friends," he said just before turning to walk away.

Cat sighed, unsure of what to make of all of this. She looked to her friends, but saw questioning looks on their faces as well.

The two U.S. officials loaded themselves into their SUV's, the door being shut behind them. The guards loaded up into the other vehicles, and motioned for the bay doors to be opened. They left as quickly as they had arrived, making their way across the tarmac to yet another hanger, preparing themselves to leave for the country's capitol.

"Well, I suppose we have a lot to think about..." Jazz commented.

Bumblebee noticed that Cat yawned. He, then, transformed and opened his driver's side door and playing over his radio, "Let's get a move on, little buddy."

Cat was about to say her "goodnight's" to the other Autobots when Optimus upbruptly stopped her.

"You go ahead, Bumblebee. I will, personally, take Cat home tonight," he said gruffly.

Cat looked up to Optimus and saw that this was going to be yet another "little chat" with the Autobot leader. The other four transformed into their alternate modes and went their separate ways after Cat got up into Optimus' truck cabin.

"Cat, I understand your past, but I cannot condone your behavior towards Secretary Keller, and any other human for that matter," he began.

"Well then you obviously _don't_ understand my past... I'm not going to bring myself to trust humans in general, and humans at the top of the social list in the government..." Cat rebutted.

"John Keller had nothing to do with your upbringing, and he wishes nothing more than for you to trust him. He's trying to do his best to help you adjust to living a normal human life," Optimus scolded.

"And what about Banachek?" Cat asked.

"What of him?" the leader was growing more and more impatient.

"He's known all about me since I was born! And since he and Keller are associated with each other, then they're _both_ untrustworthy!" Cat shot back, feeling the seatbelt tighten a little.

"I know that this is all a little hard to understand for you right now, but Banachek is under the direct command of Keller, not the other way around. John was the person to institute your official papers making you a citizen, and has stood firmly on those beliefs ever since. Even if you do not trust any other human in this world, besides Mikaela and the Witwicky's, Keller is the one human you should have faith in!" he began losing his temper.

"And what about this little offer of his?! How are you so sure that he's not trying to entrap you guys into their little government schemes! Entrap all of us?!" Cat yelled.

Optimus stopped in his tracks on the dark, empty road, his engine revved and his voice was bordering on severe irritation and anger.

"And you think that we would allow this?" he asked in a lower tone.

"Of course not! You'd never-" and that's when Cat stopped her little protest.

A long stretch of silence, except for the loud purring of Optimus' engine, before the leader spoke softly, "We would _never_ allow anyone to harm you the way that you were harmed for so long. I'm insulted that you would even suggest that we would just let something like that happen again. I'm also insulted that you have no faith in my ability to lead my men. If we were to make the decision to move, then we would base our decision soley on the safety of our entire group. These four are under my command, and I would be a shameful leader if I had ever made the decision to lead them to their deaths."

Cat sat in silence. Optimus knew that she had known better than to insinuate that he would cause undue harm onto the ones that trusted him the most.

"It's not you that I don't trust..." Cat said quietly.

"Yes I know. But if you don't start putting trust into other humans... I fear for you Catherine..." the Peterbilt began rolling forward again as it made it's way to the Witwicky residence.

The blue semi pulled up in front of Sam's house, Bumblebee sitting and waiting patiently. The lights were all off in the house, showing Cat that she needed to be expertly quiet to slip back into bed. She climbed out of the truck cabin and turned to say goodnight.

"Cat, I would like you to think about whether or not you'd like to join us if we go. It's up to you, of course," and he was off, disappearing at the end of the dark, foggy road.

Cat sighed and looked up to the house, to see that Sam's bedroom light had turned on. He was probably awake when he had heard Optimus' engine roar down the street. And now, she had to think long and hard about where she was headed in life, and try and explain it to her young friends.


	4. Family

Hey guys! Long time no update, I know... Things are so crazy these days, trying to pay the bills off faster and it's only causing me more trouble in the long run... Bleh... Anyway, I'll be getting an update to Soul Recon soon, I promise. I just don't have the time. Anyway, I didn't even run this update through the old spell checker, so be kind...

I'm going to start something new the next time I update Soul Recon, and this will be especially for you readers. But I want to thank all of you for reading both of my stories! I've gotten some real inspiration in the past few days, and I want to thank you guys properly, but on the Soul Recon story.

Thank you, and Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own transformers or any other trademarked item in this story. The only thing I own is Cat and Five!

--

"What do you mean they're leaving?!" Sam couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Shh!" Cat went to her bedroom door and closed so that their conversation wouldn't be heard by Sam's sleeping parents.

"It's not for sure yet..." she walked back over to her bed and sat down, watching Sam as he was looking out of her window, making sure that Bumblebee was in his spot in the driveway, "But they only have a week to decide, and I think they're going to do it."

"But... I thought they were happy here?" Sam asked quietly.

Cat empathized with Sam. She didn't want the Autobots to leave either, "They're happy being around us, but they're cramped here. The one thing you don't have to worry about is Bee leaving, though."

Sam turned and looked to Cat with a hopeful stare, "Really?"

Cat smiled, "Yeah, he's already made it clear that he's staying with you and Mikaela," her smile faded quickly as she stood back up and walked over to the window and looked down at the yellow Camaro.

"There's one more thing..." Cat said.

"What's that?" Sam didn't like where this was going.

"Keller's asked me to join them..."

For a second, Sam didn't know what to think. But suddenly, he burst out laughing, causing Cat to give him a confused look.

"What's so funny about that?" she crossed her arms.

Sam stopped laughing, noticing the look at Cat's face that showed that she wasn't amused.

"Well it's just that... You'd never go back there in a million years!" he reasoned.

Cat sighed and looked out of her bedroom window up at the starry skies.

"You... You're not going back there... Are you, Cat?" Sam asked, feeling as if he suddenly didn't know how she felt about her old "home".

"I don't know Sam... I just don't know..." she couldn't look at him knowing that he would give her the "why?" look.

Sam merely shook his head and walked out of the room. But before he closed the door behind himself, he asked, "So what's your excuse?"

Cat looked up to her friend, once again confused.

"Excuse?" she asked.

"Well the Autobots are cramped, and they can't do much to be themselves. But you're human, even if you don't want to admit it, you're human. And you have a good home, and a family. So what's your excuse to want to leave us?" he closed the door.

Cat shook her head and walked over to the door, turning out the lights and slid into bed. She stared up at the ceiling with her hands behind her head as if she were staring into the depths of space itself.

"What _is_ my excuse?"

--

Cat awoke the next morning, hearing no sounds coming from anywhere in the house. Her exceptional hearing told her that everyone was gone, and she remembered that the Witwicky's all had schedules to attend to. Judy was helping a friend move their business to a new office building, Ron was at work, and Sam and Mikaela had to spend a few hours at school attending to their new schedules and some class information. That meant that she was going to be alone for a few hours. She cozied herself in the warm comfort of her bed and rolled over onto her side, closing her eyes again so that she could fall back into deep sleep. The birds outside of her window were singing, a mild breeze whispered sweet nothings in Cat's ear, and tickled her exposed skin. She was extremely relaxed. Something that she wasn't used to. But of course, it couldn't last long.

Cat's eyes shot open when she heard a familiar sports car honking below her bedroom window. She rolled over and pulled the bed sheets over her head, hoping that if she ignored the noise, it would simply fade away. Nope.

The house phone rang along with the honking. Cat's sleepy eyes narrowed at the phone next to her bed just before she reached over and picked it up.

"Hello?" it was more of a growl than it was a greeting.

"Come on, lazy bones!" a myriad of songs played.

"Bumblebee, it's way to early..." Cat whined.

"You've got things to do today, and while Sam and Mikaela are at school, I have some time to help you get them done," Bumblebee's cheerful, british-sounding voice explained.

Cat settled on her back and sighed, "What things?"

"You said that you wanted to learn the rules of the road! What better way than a "car" to teach you?"

Cat mumbled some incoherant words before finally saying, "Give me a few minutes," and hanging up the phone.

--

A yawning Cat closed and locked the back door behind her as she stretched and walked over to Bumblebee. The driver's side door opened as she approached and she sat down in the leather seat, the door closing and the seat belt locking her into place. Bumblebee's engine roared to life... and suddenly Cat noticed that they were going nowhere.

"So... what's the big plan?" Cat decided to find out what her friend was doing.

"Since you're the one driving, it's all up to you really," Cat could hear a bit of a chuckle from the mech.

"I'm driving?" Cat asked, obviously this wasn't the game plan that she had in mind.

"You need your license, correct? Then you're going to need to drive. And I'd like to know what your capabilities are for driving before I tell the others that you're going to be getting a specialized vehicle to-"

"Stop right there!" Cat halted the Autobot in mid-speech.

"What is it?" Bumblebee asked.

"I never told you to tell the others what I'm planning just yet! I haven't even told Sam's parents about the motorcycle! Just keep it under wraps until I actually get it, okay?" Cat decided.

"Why don't you want the other Autobots to know about your motorcycle?" Bee asked.

"Are you kidding? I can already hear Ratchet rattling off the statistics of deaths on a motorcycle, or what kind of long term effects can happen when there's an accident on one. No, I think it'd be better if we just did this in secret if you don't mind," Cat insisted as she put the transmission in drive and pulled out of the driveway, "Besides, all I need is to go to the License branch and pick up some of their rule books. Like I told Sam and them, I already know how to drive, I just need to know what the rules of the road are."

"That'll save me some time, then," Bumblebee said thoughtfully.

Cat glanced down at the radio and asked, "Save you some time for what?"

Silence.

"Bee... What exactly did you mean when you said that I had "things" to do today?" Cat's eyes of suspicion were dead set on the center console.

"It's really not that big of a deal Cat," he tried to brush the subject off.

"If it's not that big of a deal, then why won't you tell me?" the girl bordered on mild irritation.

"...I suppose it won't hurt to say anything now. I was asked to bring you to Ratchet for a full check-over..."

Cat's eyes widened, "You tricked me! I can't believe you, of all of them, tricked me!"

"I promise that it won't be long. Just a few minutes and we'll be on our way again," Bee calmly explained.

"... I'd have prefered staying in bed... I knew I should have ignored you..." Cat groaned.

--

The two arrived at the lookout where all but Ratchet were in their alternate forms. Bumblebee came to a stop and Cat, begrudgingly, got out and looked around.

"Why's everyone so quiet?" she asked.

"They're still in recharge," Ratchet replied.

Cat turned and glared at the yellow Camaro and said, "At least _someone's_ still sleeping..."

The ground feeling as though it was shifting beneath her, Cat turned back around and saw a neon yellow hand laid out before her, it's intent obvious.

"You know, it's not very nice to trick people into going to the doctor..." Cat grumbled as she stepped into the medics' palm.

Ratchet raised her to his torso level, his optics flickering as he began a once-over of Cat.

"You wouldn't have come otherwise," Cat could tell that he was bordering on snickering.

Cat huffed and crossed her arms, "Well let's get this over with then... I'm sure Bumblebee will need to pick up the kids soon."

Ratchet seemed focused for just a moment more before putting his hand back down to the ground, letting the girl walk off onto the grassy earth, "I'm pleased with your progress. Your muscles are beginning to build up their strength, and you've gained thirteen pounds. It shouldn't be too long before you're at the recommended weight class for your age and height."

"What am I? Livestock?" Cat growled.

Ratchet smirked, "I'm sure any human medical professional would say the same thing. Perhaps we should schedule you an appointment with one so that you can-"

"That won't be neccesary... If you're satisfied and you're leaving me be, then I'm satisfied..." Cat cut Ratchet off before he could actually do something silly like call for a human doctor for her.

"Very well then," he smiled.

Cat turned to Bumblebee and was about to go to him when she stopped, as though she were in mid thought, and turned back towards Ratchet.

"So... Have you guys decided on anything yet?" she asked carefully.

Ratchet crossed his arms and made a sound as though he were sighing, "I'm afraid we haven't come to any decision as of yet... How about you?"

Cat looked to the three Autobots in recharge. The lookout was quiet and peaceful for a summer morning. She sighed, herself, and replied, "No... I told Sam about it last night. Of course he was a bit surprised and upset, but I suppose he understands about you guys needing your space... He was pretty upset at the idea of me going though."

"I'm sure he was. I'm also sure that his parents, as well as Mikaela, won't be too happy with the idea of this either. But we must do things, sometimes, that are the best for us," the medic explained.

Cat looked up to Ratchet with a look of dismay, "Yeah, maybe it's best for you, but I'm not like you guys... Sam made that point last night..."

"Perhaps your physical needs are addressed with shelter and nourishment, but you could certainly learn quite a bit from us, I'm sure," Ratchet commented, "Being the prodigy that you are, you could actually benefit from some of our teachings."

"Yeah... I've thought about that as well... But I can't really justify going back... there..." Cat gritted the last word through her teeth.

Neither of the two conscious Autobots knew what to say, exactly. Battle worn, they were, they weren't sure how Cat would react when reintroduced back to the place where she was tortured and trained as a warrior.

"It's all up to you, Catherine. No one can force you to do anything that you don't wish to do anymore, not even Sector Seven," the medic reasoned.

Cat visibly winced at that name, but nodded in agreement.

"I have to get going. Bee's going to need to pick up the kids at school here soon and I still have to get to the license branch to pick up one of their little booklets. I'll see you later Ratch," Cat waved the medic off and sat back down in the driver's seat of the Camaro.

Bumblebee turned around on the grassy knolls of the Lookout and was on his way into the park, heading towards the BMV.

Ratchet shook his head with another sound like a sigh.

"One day, Catherine. One day you'll learn to overcome what lies in your past..."

--

Cat walked into the license branch and walked up to the counter.

"Ma'am?" she leaned over the counter as several people behind it strode around as if they were in a panic. A woman stopped what she was doing and looked at Cat from several feet behind the counter.

"You'll have to take a number. I'm afraid we're too busy to accomodate everyone as they walk through the door," she said as she buried herself in a filing cabinet of paperwork.

"That's okay. I just need a driver's manual. Do you have any?" Cat asked.

The woman stopped shuffling through her paperwork and looked around behind the counter. She spotted a pile of booklets and went to them, roughly grabbing one and handing it over the counter to Cat, immediately going back to what she was doing before.

"...Thanks..." Cat grouched as she turned to leave.

"Oh! Cat, was it?" a girl's voice called, bringing Cat's face up from looking over the small book.

The girl was familiar... Like she had seen her somewhere before...

"My name's Charlotte. I was talking with Mikaela in the department store yesterday while you were trying some clothes on," the girl reminded. She wasn't alone this time. She had three other girls her own size with her, and they had all stopped what they were doing to overlook Cat, which annoyed her.

"Oh right..." Cat intended to just walk off, but she was halted in her tracks by Charlotte getting in her way.

"So Mikaela tells me that you're staying with the Witinky family?" Charlotte continued.

"...Witwicky... And not that it's any of your business, but yes..."

"I see..." Charlotte looked a bit taken back by Cat's less than happy nature, "Are you family?"

Cat rolled her eyes. She didn't have time for questioning!

"No, I'm not related to them... I'm just a friend of the family's... Wait a minute. Don't you go to the same school as Sam and Mikaela?" Cat realized.

Charlotte smiled as if she were making a new friend, "Yeah!"

"Aren't you supposed to be there to plan for next school year's classes?" Cat asked.

"The school has all of us there in shifts. I was there early, and those two were there later. Aren't they here with you?" she asked, looking around.

"No, I'm supposed to pick them up at noon. Which is just a few minutes from now, so I should be going," Cat once again tried to end the conversation but it came with no success.

"Are you going to be going to school with us this next year?" Charlotte persisted.

Cat merely laughed, "Not at all. The schooling that I had, had me at high school levels at the age of eight!"

"Oh, neat! So you're like, a genius or something?" one of the girls in the group asked.

"Something like that... Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go," Cat insisted.

She shoved her way past the group and left.

--

It was later that night that Cat was going through the booklet for the first time. Several hundred pages of signs, stopping lengths, tips and all kinds of things that Cat hadn't expected to need to learn.

"Why does there need to be so many damn rules?! I know how to drive, so what's the point of needing to know all of this crap?!" She threw her hands up in frustration, then went back to studying the manual.

"Cat?" Sam poked his head into her room.

"Oh, I'm sorry Sam. I didn't mean to yell..." she apologized.

Sam slowly shuffled his way in the door and asked, "What's the yelling about anyway?"

"I guess I'm just upset that they have all of these rules just for driving... It's not like I don't know how to drive..." she repeated.

"Why don't you just get Keller or someone to give you your license?" Sam asked.

Cat swung her head up as if the thought had never occurred to her, "You think that would work?"

"It's worth giving a shot isn't it?" Sam smiled.

"...But then I actually have to call someone... I'd probably have to call Keller directly..." She realized.

"I think it'd be worth it if you could bypass the drivers test," Sam pointed out.

"What's the drivers test all about anyway?" Cat asked. She hadn't found any of that information yet and was curious.

"Well you have the written test, and then you have to have a certified drivers instructor with you to drive to prove that you actually _can_ drive," he explained.

"I suppose it doesn't sound too bad... But still..." she thought aloud.

"Didn't Five drive Optimus?" Sam suddenly asked.

Cat looked to Sam with a troubled look indeed, "I suppose she did."

"Well? It's obvious that you guys were trained to drive already, why not just ask to get your license?" He reasoned.

"I'll try it," she smiled and closed the booklet.

Sam sat down on Cats bed, a look that proved that he had something on his mind.

"Something the matter?" Cat asked.

"Well it's just... I told Mikaela..." his voice trailed off.

"Told her what?" Cat asked, just before Sam looked at her with that special 'you know what' look, "Oh right... that... And what did she say?"

"Well she was upset, of course. She'd really miss the Autobots, " and then he looked up at her again with a hard stare, "But she'd really miss you too. That part really upset her..."

Cat sighed and looked away, "Oh Sam... Of course you guys are upset, it's a totally new change to your already new change... And, of course, I've grown attached to you guys too, but..." she stopped.

"But what?" Sam asked.

Cat looked back to Sam with the same hard stare, her eyes meeting his in the 'look, you're going to have to understand' look.

"I have two families now Sam. They're a big part of me, just like how they're a big part of you. And I can learn a lot from them. Ratchet suggested that I could even learn how to repair them when it's needed. I could be helpful to them during this time of war."

"War? But the war ended! Megatron's dead!" Sam tried to make sense of things.

"And where's Starscream?" Cat growled, "Or Barricade? How many other Decepticons are out there waiting to strike back?"

"Why would they do that?! The Allspark's gone! There's nothing left for them to come back here for!" Sam's voice grew louder as his anger built up.

"They'll come back for the Autobots!" Cat stood up over Sam to put her foot down on the matter, "They're not going to give up on them just because the thing that they were fighting for is out of the picture! You saw how ruthless they fought in Mission City, and in Bullhead city! The Autobots are forever going to be watching their backs just because they never know when their enemies are going to band up and come back for a little revenge!"

"...You really think that their in danger?" Sam asked in a small voice.

Cat calmed herself and sat back down in the chair of her desk, "Yes, Sam. I do. And they think so too. They worry that being here is going to cause the Earth to be targeted, but they know that it's already targeted."

"It is?" Sam asked, looking confused.

Cat smiled, "Are you kidding? You, yourself are probably an interstellar celebrity!"

Sam smiled back and laughed, "Yeah, I guess I am."

"You know, it was great that you did that. The problem now is that we have to be ready for when they come back to take their revenge. And I want to be standing with the Autobots when that happens," Cat said with a nod, affirming her statement.

"But you don't have to fight..." Sam pointed out.

"Yes... I do..." she frowned, "Starscream will remember me as the one who took his head off and controlled him when he was brought back to existance... He'll be looking for me just like he'll be hunting down the Autobots."

"So... Does that mean you're going?" Sam asked, knowing the answer, but hoping that it wasn't true.

Cat smiled warmly down at her friend, "Yeah... I think it does."


	5. That Special 'Friend' of Mine

Hey guys! Just a little short for this series. I figured I needed to cover all of my bases with how Cat lives her everyday life!

Enjoy!

GrimlockX4: Thank you very much!

FORD B: There's always going to be more :D

--

Sam had just rolled over in bed, looking over to his alarm clock.

'10:42 AM'

Wow. This was the latest that he's slept in since... Well since last summer. It was a bit odd since usually either Bumblebee or Cat had him up at no later than nine. And that was on a good morning! He threw the covers off of him and slowly sat up, feeling the need to stretch out his tired muscles. His hands reached up towards the ceiling as he stood, standing on his toes as his whole body stretched, a warm tingle spanning from the tips of his fingers to the heels in his feet. Ah, a good morning stretch always helped the blood flow in the morning.

Sam could hear his mother working outside on her garden, which was still recovering from the Autobot's first visit, and Sector Seven's destruction. It sounded as if she were talking to someone... But his dad was at work... Oh no, Cat didn't volunteer to help her did she?!

Sam ran to the window and saw that Bumblebee was pinching the garden hose between his metal thumb and forefinger, helping to water the plants. The mech was careful about where he stepped, making sure not to destroy the newest built concrete pathway through the yard. Sam opened the window and yelled in a loud whisper.

"Are you two crazy?!" Judy and Bumblebee stopped to look up at Sam in a confused manner.

"Well good morning dear! You're up a bit late today!" Judy waved cheerfully.

"What the hell are you doing?! It's daylight! The neighbors are gonna freak if they see a giant robot watering roses!" his morning voice was already gone as it was replaced by panic.

"Oh relax, Sam! No one's going to see anything! Everyone's at work, the only one who's home is the crazy cat lady half a block down. And she hardly ever sets foot outside of the house, let alone look out the windows!" Judy smiled.

Sam looked to Bumblebee, who was still holding the hose, "What, are you a Florest now? You've got a new hobby?!"

Bumblebee only shrugged as he continued spritzing the colorful floral arrangements.

Sam gave an exasperated sigh and slammed the window shut, deciding that arguing was going to be a losing battle. He grabbed some fresh clothes from his drawers and headed towards the shower, rubbing a hand through his bed head hair.

It was only a few minutes later that he emerged from the shower feeling refreshed and -

(Gurgle) ... Starving to freaking death...

It was nearly time for lunch anyway, so he grabbed a few dollars from his dresser and picked up his cell phone, dialing Mikaela's number.

A few rings later, the sweet, angelic voice of his new girlfriend picked up, "Hey Sam."

He loved how she knew his number.

"Hey, I just got up a few minutes ago. You hungry?" he asked, shuffling through his top drawer looking for any loose change that he could put towards a large lunch.

"Sure! I'm at the store right now anyway picking up some little things right now, so I can drive over in just a minute!" she said happily. Sam could hear the 'beeps' of a cashier running a couple of items through the scanner in the background.

"That's cool, I still need to find some money anyway so it'll take me a few minutes," the sounds of Bumblebee's footsteps walking around the yard could be heard, "...That is if I can get Bee to stop pulling weeds..."

Mikaela giggled and said, "Well I'll see you in a few minutes, okay?"

"All right, I'll be waiting," Sam replied.

"See ya," Mikaela hung up, as well as Sam.

Finally, after a moment of messing up the clothes in his dresser drawers, Sam found a total of two dollars and nine cents extra in change.

Sam walked quickly out of his room, excited about food and seeing Mikaela. He almost walked to the end of the hall and hopped down the stairs when he remembered something.

"Cat might want to eat with us!" he turned around and walked towards the guest room, seeing that the door was completely shut. He stopped just in front of it and knocked lightly on the old, wooden door.

"Cat? You in there?" he asked, looking at his cell phone to see if there were any missed calls from anyone.

No answer.

Sam looked up at the door and knocked again, "Cat? You there?"

Sam was about to walk away when he heard a stirring from within the room. He decided that maybe, for some odd reason, she was still asleep and opened the door just a crack.

"Cat?" he asked almost in a whisper.

He looked over to the bed and saw a large lump under several blankets, unmoving.

"Hey, what are you still doing in bed?" he smirked a little. She must have stayed up late again, watching cartoons... He never really pegged her as a spongebob fan...

"Mmmmrrmm..." was the reply.

Sam walked into the room the rest of the way and said, "Come on, you _never_ let me sleep this late! Mikaela and I are going to go get some lunch, do you want to come with us?"

"Nnngn," the lump moved just ever so slightly.

Sam walked over and gently nudged the blob of blankets, "You okay?"

"Go away, Sam..." Cat warned, not sounding amused by his bothersome questions.

Sam was a bit taken back at first but smirked again, "Come on! You getting lazy in your old age or what? Mikaela's gonna be here in a few minutes to go out to eat."

"Then go... Just leave me alone..." she said in a growl.

"Please come eat with us?" he asked.

"... I'm not kidding around, Sam..." Cat's voice fluxuated between bording on anger, and trying to stay calm.

"Are you sure you're all right?" he leaned over the mountain of sheets looking concerned, "Cat if you're not feeling good I can-"

"_Don't. Do. Anything_..." she warned.

Sam stood back up and looked over the motionless blob. Never, has Cat been in this bad of a mood. Maybe she was depressed?

"You know," he smirked again, "Ratchet told me to let him know if you were sick or behaved any differently than you were supposed to."

"...Don't you dare..."

"Then get up and let's go! I'm starving and you need to eat too," he decided to tempt fate and took hold of the edge of the blankets.

Flipping the sheets off of her, Sam flung them onto the floor next to him and realized that he had just made the biggest mistake he could ever make... Cat's head slowly turned to look at him, a glare evident.

...He suddenly felt like running from the room...

--

"Well hello, Mikaela," Judy greeted at the end of the driveway behind the house as she saw the robin egg blue moped pull up towards the garage. It looked as though she had a plastic grocery sack hanging on one of the handles of the moped.

"Hi, Mrs. Witwicky," Mikaela smiled as she parked the small bike.

"Sam should be down anytime," she advised.

"That's okay, I need to give these to Cat first," Mikaela swung the bag from the bike and headed to the back door.

"She hasn't gotten up today yet either, is she all right?" Judy asked, concerned.

Mikaela smiled and replied, "Oh yeah, she'll be fine."

As the teen entered the back door and began to head towards the stairs through the kitchen, a dumbfounded, fearful look on his face. His freshly showered hair was messy and twisted. She stopped in her tracks, eyes wide.

"What happened to _you_?" she asked.

"Cat..." he started.

"Uh oh... You didn't try and get her up did you?" Mikaela asked.

"She... She..." he stammered.

"She what?" the girl was curious as to what could have happened.

"She... She _hissed_ at me..." he looked at her completely confused.

"I'm sorry, Sam. I should have warned you not to bother her today..." Mikaela apologized.

"Yeah... You know what?" he asked.

Mikaela rubbed his back to calm him, "What?"

"You two need to, maybe, get together and write down when I need to stay the hell away from you or something..." he advised.

Mikaela only giggled in response, kissing the boy's cheek.

--

Um, just so you all know, I've taken the story "Straight from the Cat's Mouth" down. It was up for over a month and it only had 30 hits, so I probably won't put it back up unless there's a demand for it, which I highly doubt there will be. Sorry about that. I took it down the day after posting the new Soul Recon update.


	6. Meeting Miles

Hey Guys! I didn't think I'd be getting this update out so soon, but here it is! Hope you like it!

GrimlockX4 - And there will be oh so many more lessons for all to learn teehee!

FORD B - Yeah, she's a bit of a hot-head, but she's lovable too!

Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers, I own Cat.

Enjoy!

--

Stirring from down the hallway woke Cat from a quiet, dreamless sleep. Her eyes batted open as she heard two, male voices and footsteps slowly step closer. She lifted her head from the pillow, her soft brunette hair draped around her face. The voices seemed to pass by her room and quiet down so she decided not to look into it and rolled over onto her right side, facing away from the door. She yawned deeply and closed her eyes, feeling sleep numb her body as she drifted off a little.

The door creaked as it opened just a little.

Cat's eyes flew open. She didn't turn, thinking that whatever it was would probably just leave. It couldn't have been Sam, she'd taught him the lesson of not waking her before she decided that she would get up. It couldn't have been Ron or Judy, they would always knock before opening the door. It wasn't Mojo because she had let the doorhandle click into place when she closed it before going to sleep, so he couldn't have opened the door.

"What are you doing?!" She heard Sam yell in a whisper.

"Dude, who _is_ that?" an unfamiliar voice asked.

"That's going to be hell in a handbasket if you don't shut the freakin' door and keep quiet!" Sam scolded, pulling gently on the door and allowing the handle to quietly click into place.

The voices mumbled as they walked back down the hall towards Sams room.

Cat gave a tired smirk. She had taught Sam well. She looked to her clock and saw that it was well past the time that she should have been up already.

"That's it... No more Spongebob after one in the morning..." Cat grumbled as she slowly sat up and stretched, brushing her hair out of her face and standing up. Her back was sore and the shoulder which supported her false right arm was burning.

Cat walked out of her room and slowly made her way down the hall towards the bathroom. She was rubbing at her shoulder and her eyes were half open, still yawning. Cat hadn't really been paying attention to where she was going, trusting on her instincts to lead her to the bathroom. She walked until she ran into something that was soft and warm. Normally she would have just moved and continued on her normal path, but her left eye beeped, indicating a new bio-signature. She jumped back, her eyes widened as they looked upon the face of... Well she didn't know _who _this was...

His hair was long and a strawberry blonde color, while his eyes were sky blue. His clothing looked over-worn, tears and strands of cloth hung from the knees of his jeans. His crooked smile automatically told Cat that his mind wasn't exactly sharp as a tack.

"Wow..." he said as his eyes strayed from where they should have been, "How many girls does Sam _have_?"

Cat grabbed the boy's neck, pressing her right thumb against his windpipe, "SAM..." she growled.

Sam's head popped around the corner from his room door, his eyes widening as he sprinted towards the two, "Calm down! Calm down!"

"Who is it?!" Cat's eyes narrowed and glared at the choking teenager.

"This is Miles! He's a friend!" Sam tugged at Cat's left arm, trying to pull her away from harming his buddy.

"Do you like your friends _with_ or _without_ a head?!" Cat asked.

"With! Definitely with!" Sam pleaded just before Cat let go of Miles.

Miles coughed and stepped away from Cat, "Who the hell... _is_ that?!"

"Miles, this is Cat.... She's uh... She's a friend of the family, and she's staying with us for a while. Cat, this is Miles," Sam stood between the two so that Miles wouldn't be a target if he said anything to activate Cat's "must kill" anger.

Cat went back to rubbing at her burning shoulder, the joint aching even more with the movement that she had just done.

"Keep it out of my way!" Cat growled as she stepped around the two and into the bathroom, slamming the door.

"What's her problem?!" Miles asked.

"Just don't make her angry, okay?" Sam nudged Miles back down the hall towards the stairs.

"Why not? Dude, that was hot!" Miles smirked.

Sam cringed and replied, "That's sick, Miles! Just plain sick!"

-----

It was later that Cat emerged from the bathroom a bit more refreshed than before. She walked straight down to the kitchen and started rummaging through the fridge. After sitting down to eat a small snack, Cat began rubbing at her shoulder, seething a bit at it's intense burning.

"Something wrong?" Sam asked, sitting down at the table.

Cat's eyes creeped around behind her and to the sides. Sam smiled and said, "No, he's not here anymore. He'll be back later this afternoon though. You know, when you're _driving_ Bee to drop him, Mikaela and I at the movies so you can take your driver's test?"

Cat rolled her eyes and continued rubbing at her shoulder, where her human flesh met the metal, "Damn thing's been bothering me again."

"You feel up to taking the test this afternoon?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, it'll be fine. There's nothing that can be done for it. It's done it since I've had it," Cat replied, returning to her snack.

"You mean you can't just take a tylenol or something?" Sam asked.

Cat pointed to a round, smooth, silver bolt on her shoulder. There were many that lined the edge of the metal on her shoulder, "See that?" the teenager nodded, "Those aren't screws. Those are steel rivets. And those rivets were shot through the bone and muscle in my shoulder to make sure that the mount for this thing wasn't going to come off," Sam visibly cringed, "There's no amount of tylenol that will take the pain away."

Sam nodded but then asked, "Why don't you just ask Ratchet to get you a stronger pain medicine? Or at least a redesign of that thing?"

"I'm not going to go running to the guys whenever I need something. And it can't be redesigned. My nervous system is attached to it, and just taking things apart all willy nilly could easily destroy the nerves that are already being used by this contraption," she smiled faintly, "It's just a lot that would take too long, and too many surgeries to get right, and I'm done with all of that crap."

Sam was quiet. Cat felt a shiver up her spine because of the sudden silence and decided to break it.

"So if this kid is such a great friend of yours, why haven't you told him about the Autobots?" Cat smirked.

"Are you kidding? He keeps reminding everyone about when I peed my pants in gym class back in second grade! You want me to trust him with a government secret?!" Sam exclaimed.

Cat only laughed.

--

It was a little after noon and Cat had been nursing her burning shoulder as the pain only grew worse during the day. She was sitting on the back porch in a lawn chair in a black tank top, allowing the sun to warm her aching muscles. It was turning out to be a nice quiet start to the rest of the day for-

The sounds of several large vehicles pulled up into the back alley behind the house. Cat's relaxed state suddenly turned to the "oh god not now" mode. The sounds of gears and metal scraping could be heard as three robot forms appeared above the fence. It was Optimus, Ratchet and Jazz. It would have been fine that they were there, except she was supposed to leave with Sam, Mikaela and that annoying friend of Sams' to the movies and take Bumblebee over for the driver's test afterwards. She checked her watch and saw that they were supposed to leave in less than ten minutes if they were going to make it on time.

"Hey guys," Cat yawned.

"Wuz happenin' girl?" Jazz asked cheerfully as he jumped over the back fence, followed by the other two.

"Same old, same old," Cat replied with a smile.

Sam walked out to the patio, "Hey Cat, Mikaela's here so we should be getting ready to leave here in a -" he saw the three Autobots in the backyard, "Oh, hey guys!"

"Yo, Sam!" Jazz greeted.

"What are you guys up to today?" Sam asked.

"We had some time, so we decided to check in on all of you," Optimus replied.

"In short, we were bored," Jazz added with a smirk.

Mikaela walked onto the back patio, "Hey, I didn't know you guys were coming over," she smiled up at them.

"Hello, Mikaela," Optimus greeted.

Cat turned around on her laid out lawn chair and said, "They decided to _check_ in on us," she gave a discouraging wink.

"Oh," Mikaela nodded and looked up to the three, "Well we were just about to go see a movie, unless our plans have changed," she looked to Sam.

"They can't change, Miles is coming and he should be here in a few-" Sam started.

-Bing-

The front doorbell rang.

"Speaking of the devil," Cat rolled her eyes.

"I'll get him. You guys should probably, you know, transform so he doesn't see you," Sam went inside the house to try and stall Miles for a moment, allowing the Autobots to make a getaway, Mikaela following.

While the two were away, Cat felt a quick, stabbing pain in her right shoulder, sending her left hand to rub the afflicted area. Which, of course caught the attention of the neon yellow medic.

"What was that?" Ratchet asked.

Cat immediately stopped the rubbing and dropped her hand to the chair, "Nothing."

"It didn't look like nothing..." he persisted.

"I had an itch," Cat lied.

"Your facial expression did not show as if it were a mere itch. You looked as though you were in pain," he pressed on further.

"No I wasn't," Cat looked away.

"Yes you were," he leaned in closer towards her.

"Ratchet, we should be going if the children have someone visiting," Optimus advised.

"Yea, we gotta go before we're caught," Jazz agreed.

"That arm of yours is bothering you again, isn't it?" the medic asked.

"I, uh" Cat turned to see the three teens start walking through the house towards the back and panicked, "You need to go, now!" she got up and shooed at Ratchet, causing him to step back quickly, hitting Jazz who fell into the new backyard table and furniture that Sam's parents had just purchased, destroying them. Jazz had clipped Optimus' foot which tipped the poor Autobot leader as he tried to catch himself but only managed to fall over the back fence, causing a large "BOOM" which brought the attention of some of the nearby neighbors.

Cat cringed but looked back to the house and saw the three teens making a dash for the back door now. She ran out to the two remaining Autobots and waved her arms, "Just.. Just transform or something! Quick!"

"All right, all right, we're going!" Ratchet grouched as he and Jazz transformed into their alt modes quickly, still in the backyard, "Don't you leave here without me taking a look at that-"

"THIS ISN'T THE TIME TO ARGUE WITH ME JUST -" Cat wailed before being cut off.

"Hey _Cat_," Mikaela gritted through her teeth with a smile covering up an obvious frustrated facial expression.

"Who were you talking to?" The confused face of Miles looked around the backyard, "Whoa, dude! What happened?!"

Cat was standing in between the two, now fully transformed, Autobots. There were shards of the wooden furniture lying around the Pontiac Solstice as the vehicle merely sat amongst the wreckage, looking seemingly still and unaware. The back fence was damaged, giving the four of them a clear view into the alley, where a quiet blue and red flamed semi truck sat still as stone. And the ambulance disguise of Ratchet was also quiet and still. Sam's face was livid, but he chose to say and do nothing as Mikaela tried to calm him by putting an arm around his back and whispering to him sweetly.

Miles walked into the backyard, Cat leaned against the front tow harness of the ambulance and smiled, "Nothing happened..."

"Uh, right. This is just what happened after the- uh.." Mikaela started.

"Earthquake! The earthquake!" Cat finished the sentence.

Mikaela nodded in agreement, "Right, the earthquake. Yeah, it did some -uh... Some pretty bad damage.." she cringed, noticing all the damage herself.

"Oh right, I heard there was a pretty bad shake on this side of town," Miles realized.

The boy walked to the front of Ratchet's form as Cat was still leaning over him with a sturdy smile on her face, "When did you get these?!" Miles asked.

"Oh those? Oh, uh... They're Cat's!" he sputtered out quickly.

"These are _yours_?" Miles asked, "So you're the one that got Sam that awesome Camaro, then huh?"

Cat glared out towards Sam but replied, "Oh, yeah. Yep, I've got a few.... connections..."

"You think you can get me a connection on a Mustang?" Miles asked, "A slick thing like that would get more attention than that old Camaro of yours!"

A heavy and long rev of the engine of the Camaro came from the driveway. Bumblebee did not approve.

Miles looked down the driveway along with the others. He gave Sam a confused look.

"Oh right," Sam dug a hand out of his pocket and pulled out the keys, jingling them, "Remote start!"

"Oh," Miles nodded, turning his attention back to the ambulance.

At this point Cat decided that she was either going to have an aneurism or a heart attack. But she was certain something was going to happen...

"What about this thing? Can you get me something like this?" Miles asked, walking around the SUV.

Cat walked around to the side and chuckled nervously, "Oh this old thing?" she kicked at the tire... hard... "It doesn't even run anymore!" she smiled and stood in front of the passenger side door with a confident look on her face.

The door suddenly opened, slamming into Cat's, already pained, right arm. Her face went from all smiles to bugged out eyes and a howl of pain and suffering. She turned to the neon yellow vehicle and slammed the door shut again, "See?" she asked through a tight jaw and gritted teeth, "Bucket of bolts just keeps falling apart! Even the doors," she turned and glared at the ambulance, "Just won't mind their own business!"

Sam was just staring in shock, Mikaela couldn't do anything besides hang her head in her hands and shake it back and forth.

"Well what about-?" Miles began to ask, but before he could, the sounds of the semi truck's engine started up and strolled down the alley and away from the scene. Apparently he _was_ going to mind his own business.

Miles turned to Sam and asked, "Who was driving-?"

"Well we better get going before we're late for the _movie_," Sam started walking towards Bumblebee, trying to coax the rest of the group into leaving.

"Oh right!" Miles smiled and trotted off towards the Camaro.

Mikaela ran over to Cat and helped the older girl gather herself up and walk over to join the other two.

As the five left the house and down the street, Ratchet and Jazz pulled out from behind the house and down the alley. Ratchet, then, noticed the grumblings from the lieutenant.

"What are you so unhappy about?" Ratchet growled.

"All that commotion over great lookin' cars, and that kid didn't even mention _me_!" Jazz complained.

Ratchet, internally, rolled his optics.


	7. The test

Hey guys! I've been able to keep my computer running while I work on backing up the hard drive so I can send it in, so I thought I'd update this while I had the chance to!

GrimlockX4: I bet he would too! ... hmmm... I wonder just how _badly_ he'd react?... ::evil cackle::

FORD B: Heehee, yeah I like to try and keep things light. Thank you!

Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers, I own Cat.

Enjoy!

--

Cat had just dropped off the three teens at the movie theatre, and was nearly calmed down about the whole ordeal at the house. She knew that after she picked up the kids and arrived back at the house, someone was probably going to die, and it wouldn't be Cat doing the killing. It had taken the Witwicky's weeks to finally get everything replaced. Even after the government replaced the flowers, water fountain, cement pathway, as well as the lawn ornaments and furniture, everything that they had before was hand-made. That meant that Cat would probably be hiding on the roof while watching Ron strangle Sam. Yes, definitely the best idea yet. As for Bumblebee -

"Did you actually hear what that boy had to say?!" Cat smirked as she drove, glancing down to the radio once and a while as she listened, "What, on the planet, made him believe that I could be outdone by a mere Mustang?!"

"I dunno, Bee. Those Shelby's pretty much have their own fan base," Cat snorted with a laugh.

"Cat!" Bumblebee said, indignantly.

"Oh relax. Besides, how many Mustangs are there compared to how many Camaro's you see? You're, literally, one of a kind in more than one way. You're the only new Camaro, and you're the only Camaro Autobot." Cat explained.

"... I suppose you're right... However that human can _walk_ himself home," Bumblebee put his foot down.

"No arguments there. I'm really in no mood to put up with any other surprises today anyway," Cat said as she rubbed at her aching shoulder, "One was enough..."

"... If you would prefer, I could do the driving for the test today while you're not up to it," Bumblebee suggested.

"No, it's fine. I just want to get this over with so I can take the motorcycle license test next week and get on with picking out my new toy," she smirked.

"Didn't you try and contact Secretary Keller to see if you could get the license without taking the test?" Bee asked.

Cat frowned, "Well, yeah... I tried anyway..."

--

Flashback

"Keller? It's Cat," the girl greeted, frowning that she had to talk to the government associate.

"Ah, yes. How are you fairing so far, young lady?" he asked cheerfully.

"Everything's good. I just had a quick question for you," Cat replied.

"Fire away!" he listened.

"Well, I was just thinking... I've decided that I want to get my motorcycle license and I wanted to know how I would go about getting that done..." Cat started.

"Tranquility has a license branch doesn't it? Can't you get an appointment for a driver's test?" Keller asked.

Cat sighed, "I was thinking more along the lines of... Just skipping that whole process. I mean, I've got the training to drive an eighteen wheeler, isn't there some way to pick up a license without having to take a written or driving test?" Cat asked.

Keller gave a subtle laugh and replied, "Are you qualified to drive a motorcycle?"

"Well... No, I've had training in driving everything else but-" Cat replied.

"Then that settles it. I'm afraid that there's no way a driver's license can just be given to anyone. Even the president of this country can't just give someone a license. Even if I could do that, I wouldn't," Keller explained.

"Why not?!" Cat asked.

"You may have had training in driving a car, but if you don't know what's involved in a motorcycle, you could seriously injure yourself. And I won't have that on my conscious. You're just going to have to bite the bullet and do it yourself," he demanded.

"But-"

"No! I'm sure you'll find out that as long as you have the knowledge, it will make it easier to get the license. And if you plan on buying a motorcycle, then I'm going to have to require you to take the proper classes. If you don't, then I'll have your stipend suspended," he threatened in a fatherly tone.

"What?! You can't do that!" Cat growled.

"I can, and will. I have the name and number of the person who writes your checks out, and one phone call is all it will take to have it all stopped. When are you to take the motorcycle test?" Keller asked.

"... In about three weeks..." Cat replied.

"Take the test for the permit, then take the classes. When you have the full license and the papers from the classes, then I won't suspend the stipend," Keller put his foot down on the matter.

"Fine..." Cat grouched.

"Good... You know, this may seem harsh. But I'm only asking this of you what any parent would ask of their child. I'll feel better knowing that you're completely capable of driving one of those things by knowing that you have the proper training," Keller tried to explain.

"All right, all right... I'll fax them to you when I get them... Goodbye Keller..." Cat hung up the phone.

End Flashback

--

"So I have to get it done now, otherwise I'll be stuck without the stipend, and I'll have no license and no bike," Cat growled.

"I haven't had a chance to ask, just yet. What is it that you find so fascinating about a motorcycle anyway? You know you can always depend on me or one of the others to take you where you need to go," Bumblebee asked.

"It's not a matter of being taken somewhere, Bee. It's a matter of having the freedom to do as I please. And all the raw power I need is under the gas tank of those babies. Just to be able to let loose on my own terms would be nice," Cat said as she stared down the street.

"That kind of thinking can be dangerous," Bumblebee interjected.

Cat frowned, "Yeah, well danger has kind of been my life's theme lately."

"... Before you get this motorcycle, I'd like to let you know of one thing," Bumblebee started.

"Oh? What's that?" Cat asked, stopping at a red light just in front of the business center where the License branch was.

"If I believe that you are taking this too far, and putting yourself at risk, I will break our agreement and inform the others of your intentions," he informed her.

Cat sighed, "Yeah, I know. Just do me a favor. Try and understand things from my point of view here. I've just been given my first taste at freedom. What would you do with it if you were in my position?"

Bumblebee sat in quiet for a moment, "I would... probably do the same thing that you are doing."

Cat smiled, "Right. So do me a favor, and let me do my thing for a while, okay?"

The light changed green, and Cat pressed on towards entering the parking lot, "I understand. I'm just asking that you be careful."

Cat smirked as she parked and opened the door, "I'm always careful."

--

Cat approached the counter, holding her identification card in hand. She stood at the counter for a moment before a man walked over and stood on the other side, looking at the computer screen.

"Can I help you?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm here for the driver's test," Cat said, placing her card on the counter.

"Name?" he asked.

"Catherine Andrews," Cat replied.

"Ah, Miss Andrews," he said as he entered her name into the system, "You missed your appointment by twenty minutes."

Cat rolled her eyes, "Yeah, I know. Life happens."

The man furrowed his brow and replied, "Yes, well life will also means waiting another half an hour. Your instructor is out with another person for the driver's test right now. Just have a seat and wait."

Cat growled, "I can't wait. If I take too long, I'll be making other people wait for me to pick them up. Is there someone else that can give me the test?"

The man rolled his eyes and looked into the computer to see if there were any free driver instructors available. His eyes widened and he looked a bit perturbed as he looked up to Cat and said, "I do have _one_ instructor available..."

--

"But I already have a vehicle here to drive!" Cat griped at an old woman who was clutching at her clipboard.

"I've never, once, used a new driver's vehicle, and I'm not about to start. I have a perfectly capable state issued vehicle for you to use," the woman scribbled on the clipboard.

"I was told that I needed to use my own vehicle," Cat reminded the old woman.

"Yes, that was with the instructor who you were scheduled to drive with. I am not that instructor," her old gray eyes looked up to Cat from atop the clipboard, "You can wait for that instructor if you like. However, you'll need to wait the extra half an hour."

Cat scowled and looked across the parking lot at Bumblebee.

"All right, just let me get something from my car," she said as she walked quickly over to the Camaro and opened the door, sitting inside the cabin and whispering.

"I guess I'll have to take that old biddy's car... The test shouldn't take too long, but if it runs over the time that you need to pick Sam and Mikaela up, go ahead and get them first, all right?" Cat explained.

"That's fine. If you need anything, be sure to let me know," the compartment that Sam had placed his cell phone in popped open.

Cat smiled, "Thanks, Bee," she grabbed the cell phone and got back out of the Camaro, closing the door and walking back over to the old woman.

"All right, I'm ready..." Cat grimaced as he looked over the old Ford Crown Victoria.

"Good. Let's get to it, then!" the old woman smiled as she jumped into the passenger's seat, pulling her seatbelt over her.

Cat rolled her eyes as she had to tug on the old car's doorhandle in order for it to open... Yeah, this car was _so_ much better than driving the more reliable Autobot.

--

"You didn't check your mirrors... Get in the right lane... Take the next right turn and head to the interstate... You should have turned your signal on sooner... Keep both hands on the wheel," the old womans gripes were driving Cat into a madness so deep that she finally started to understand what could have been going through Five's mind back in Mission City when she betrayed her.

"My shoulder is injured, and it's a bit painful for me to raise my arm too high," Cat seethed.

"Then, perhaps, you should have waited to take your test.. Both hands on the wheel," the old woman repeated.

Cat, begrudgingly, raised her false, right arm and placed it on the steering wheel. The electric shock feeling shot back through her shoulder. She grimaced, clenching her teeth, but continued on with the test.

'Old Bat... I had more thoughtful instructors back at the Dam!' Cat thought to herself as she stopped at the red light, just before the ramp to the interstate.

"Hmm..." the old woman suddenly hummed.

Cat wasn't sure what it was that "Hmm" meant, but she wanted to know what this old Battilax was thinking.

"Something the matter?" Cat asked.

"It says, here, that you're twenty years of age?" the woman asked.

"Is that a problem?"

"I suppose not. I was just thinking that you're a bit old to be taking a driver's test," she said in a matter-of-factly tone.

'Strike one...' Cat thought to herself before speaking, "Not that it's any of your business, but I wasn't given the chance to take the driver's test."

The light changed green, and Cat drove forward, taking the ramp onto the interstate.

The wrinkle-faced woman snorted, "Wasn't given the chance? The only reason I've ever heard from older children was the fact that they were being punished for poor grades in school, or bad behavior."

'Too much more of this and she'll know what side my bad behavior is on...' Cat thought grimly.

"I didn't _have_ parents... Also none of your business," the young woman replied simply.

"You don't have to be rude, I was just pointing out a fact," the white-haired woman sounded indignant.

"You shouldn't be pointing anything out, if you're ignorant," Cat gave a snarky reply.

"So you're one of _those_!" the woman gave a shrill tone.

"One of those what?!" Cat asked.

"One of those children who grew up in a bad situation, and just can't get your life together. I can see through you perfectly now!" she scoffed, pulling her clipboard closer to the chest and looking out the passenger side window, watching the road and the trees on the sides of the interstate roll by.

"Lady, you've got no idea what you're talking about!" Cat pointed out, her mouth clenching both from the pain in her shoulder, and the bitter conversation between herself and this clueless human.

"I've seen it time and time again! You hooligans just want to get a license so you can do illegal things!" she shook her head in dismay.

'Strike two...'

Cat slammed on the brakes in a "brake check" fashion, causing the old woman to fly forward, only to be stopped abruptly by the safety belt.

"Whoops, thought I saw a dog on the highway," Cat smirked.

"Well _I_ didn't see anything!" the woman began writing notes on her clipboard.

Cat stopped herself from saying or doing anything further and continued on with the test. Just a few more miles and this would all be over. All she had to do was not say anything that could provoke the old bats bad side... Or do anything to get the bat to provoke _Cats_ bad side for that matter...

Continuing down the interstate, Cat was doing well minding the road and checking her mirrors when she thought someone was getting too close or changing lanes within too close of a range to her vehicle. The young woman was certain that, although it didn't start off well, she was close to passing, when she saw something out of the corner of her eye. Looking down into the driver's side mirror, Cat saw a black and white Mustang swiftly changing lanes in a hurry. The car looked as though it had overhead blue and read light panels on the top of the car. Why did this seem so familiar to her?...

As Cat sat and watched, a thought suddenly seemed to poke at her mind... Barricade!

Cat quickly reached down to the middle console of the car, trying to make a grab for Sam's cell phone. Her hand didn't find the phone, which raised Cat's alert level even higher.

"What are you doing?" the woman seethed.

"Where's that cell phone that I brought with me?" Cat asked in a rush.

"Oh that... I think it fell to the floor after you claimed to have seen an animal. It's under my seat," she replied.

"Well grab it and hand it to me will ya?!" Cat griped.

"It's _illegal_ to use a cell phone while driving, young lady," the woman replied, "You can collect it after the test is finished."

"It's an emergency!" Cat whined, watching the Saleen approach them after having swung through the lanes in a hurry.

"I don't see an emergency..."

"Well I DO! Now give me my phone!" Cat demanded.

"If it's an emergency, I can call the police from my own cell phone."

"I DON'T WANT TO CALL THE POLICE, I NEED TO CALL MY FRIENDS!" Cat growled.

"Absolutely not! It's illegal for you to use a cell phone while driving, and I will not allow you to break the laws while I'm instructing you! If you can't call the police, then you certainly can't call a friend!"

"FINE!" Cat yelled as she reached her right arm over the center console and under the passenger side's seat.

"What are you doing?!" the woman yelled, holding onto the door for dear life as the car swerved back and forth from one lane to the next.

"I'm getting my phone!" Cat replied, her hand searching under the seat for the missing cellular device.

"You're going to get us killed!" the woman shrieked.

"Guess you should have thought about that before you refused to get the phone yourself!" Cat scolded the old woman as she searched around under the seat.

"Pull over! PULL OVER! You've failed the test, just pull over!" the crotchety woman screeched.

Cat finally laid her hands on the phone, "Got it!" she sat back up, "I'm not finished yet!"

The police cruiser sped past their car in a rush, not having it's lights or siren running. Cat slammed on the gas pedal, following after the Mustang.

"If you don't pull over, I'll call the police!" the woman threatened.

"That's good, but I doubt they'll get there before my friends do!" Cat replied twisting the wheel, trying to avoid the other drivers on the road.

The young girl opened the cell phone and looked down at the keypad, punching in the access codes that could reach Bumblebee's internal communications circuit.

"WATCH OUT!" The instructor yelled, covering her face with her hands.

Cat looked up and saw that she was fast approaching on a slow moving economy car, pulling the wheel to the right quickly, but just barely clipping the rear bumper of the other car, tearing the front bumper off of the car she was driving.

"Whoops..." she looked back and waved to the other driver, "Sorry!"

Looking back to the road, Cat noticed that the police cruiser had taken an exit that she completely missed, "Dammit!" She pulled off into the grassy ditch, hitting a downward slope.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" the woman clung to the seatbelt for dear life.

"Shut up!" Cat ordered as the car came back to the upward slope, flying back onto the exit ramp. Two of the four hubcaps for the car flew off as the car hit the pavment once more.

Leading the vehicle around the curve of the exit ramp, Cat had started to open the cell phone to dial into Bumblebee's communications. However, as she caught sight of the end of the ramp, she noticed that the police cruiser had stopped onto the side of the road, it's lights flashing. She stopped dialing the phone and as she slowly passed the other vehicle, she noticed the writing on the side. "To Serve and Protect". The male police officer was standing next to a small car that he had pulled over to the side of the road.

"Oh man..." Cat felt her heart drop into the pit of her stomach.

She slowed as she came to the intersection and looked over to the instructor, "So um... When can I reschedule?"

--

Bumblebee had decided that it was close enough to the time when Cat should have returned, so he decided to go and pick up the three teens. Sam, of course, having to come up with a quick and intricate lie in order to throw Miles off of why the Camaro was parked in front of the theatre by itself, waiting for them.

As they pulled into the parking lot of the BMV and looked to the building, the four noticed Cat sitting on a bench, looking rather pathetic.

"Uh oh," Sam commented.

Mikaela sighed, "I wonder what could have gone wrong?"

They pulled up to the front of the building, Cat getting up and walking over. Mikaela opened the door and got out, pulling the seat forward so that Cat could slide into the back. Sitting back down and closing the door, Mikaela tried to put on her best smile for Cat.

"So?" she beamed.

Cat sighed, "I can try for it again after thirty days..."

"What happened?" Sam was surprised. He was sure that you could try a few times a week if you didn't get it the first time.

"Uh, well..." Cat's eyebrows furrowed, her mouth curving one side into a cringe as she pointed across the parking lot.

When the three looked over towards what Cat was pointing at, their faces turned from confusion to shock in a split second. The car that she had driven was in shambles. The front bumper was halfway fallen off, barely holding on. The driver's side was scraped and dented from the nose to the back bumper, and the drivers window was cracked. Cat slumped when Sam and Mikaela rounded on her in their seats.

"What the hell happened?!" Mikaela asked.

"...Oops?"


	8. Bubble Wrap and Skating Rinks

Hey guys! I'm keeping up the best I can with updates and such, so here's the next chapter!

FORD B: I actually had a lot of fun writing that chapter too! I'm glad you liked it! :D

Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers, I own Cat.

Enjoy!

---

Cat sat, gloomily, atop the garage, overlooking the driveway. It had only been a week since her driving mishap, but so far it had been the longest seven days in her lifetime. The days seemed longer, with nothing of any importance to do. She couldn't buy a bike, because state law insisted that if someone buys a new motorcycle from a dealership, they have to have their motorcycle license. She couldn't go anywhere with Sam and Mikaela because they were at school for a few hours out of the day being visited by colleges and universities. Bumblebee had asked her if she'd like to go somewhere just to get away from the house while they waited for the kids to get out of school, but she could only sulk away in response.

Cat whined, "There's gotta be _something_ to make the time pass faster..."

The sounds screeching brakes and a leaky diesel engine suddenly made a stop in front of the Witwicky house. Her head perked up as her eyes caught sight of the tail end of a brown truck. She made a quick jump from the roof of the garage, feeling jolts of pain shoot up through her legs as she limped into a pained walk.

"I keep forgetting..." she frowned as she managed to run through the house to the front door.

Ron had already answered the door, smiling as he talked with someone in a dark brown uniform. The stranger handed him a box and took back the diad board that Ron had just signed his name to.

"Thanks a lot!" he waved as he took hold of the box and shut the door. Turning, he looked up to see that Cat was staring at the delivery driver as he got back into his truck and pulled away. She eyed him in the same manner a sniper would eye their next target, "Hey there, sport."

Cat was brought out of her protective, grumpy state as she looked over to Sam's dad, "Who was that?"

"Ah, that was UPS. They're a delivery service, and the driver just dropped off my new shoes," he tapped the top of the shoe box as he carried it into the kitchen, Cat following.

Ron set the box on the table as he turned to the drawers and rummaged through them, searching for his box cutter knife. It only took him a moment before he found it, turning back to see that Cat was looking over the shoe box with a concentrated glare. He chuckled as he pulled the box over to him so he could cut through the packing tape.

"It's all right, Cat. It's not going to blow up, I promise," he assured as he deftly cut through the tape, setting the knife back down, "They're just shoes."

"I thought humans bought shoes at a store specially made for that?" Cat asked, curious.

"Well we do, normally. But these were out of stock so I had to order them online," he unwrapped the first shoe from it's bubble wrap layer and showed it to her, "These are specially designed to work with the ipod that Judy got me for my birthday," he looked to the girl and noticed the confused expression on her face, "What did I say wrong?" The Witwicky family had given Cat a lot of growing room for learning about what humans did in their normal, everyday life. So when she would look at them with that expression, Ron knew that he had said something she didn't quite understand.

"What's an 'ipod'?" Cat asked.

Ron smirked. He never thought he'd live to see the day when a young person had to ask him what an ipod was, "It's a music player device that can store hundreds of hours of songs on it. It's portable so we can take it anywhere and listen to it when we want to," he explained.

"...And how does it work with those?" Cat pointed to the shoe that he was holding.

"These are jogging shoes, and they transmit to the ipod how far I've run, how much farther I need to go, that kind of thing," he set the shoe down, retrieving the other from the box.

"I didn't know you jogged," Cat commented, trying to think of when she would see him leave the house to go for a run.

"Uh... Well, you know. Judy's been pushing for me to lose some weight, so I'm investing in technology to help me out. Maybe if she sees that I'm making an effort, I won't have to do it as often," he replied.

Cat suddenly stared down at the plastic wrap that Ron had unwrapped his new items from, "What's that?"

Ron looked to the plastic and replied, "Oh, that's bubble wrap. It's used in shipping to keep everything protected," he smiled as he took one of the rolls and handed it to her, "See the little bubbles?" Cat nodded, "Pinch one of them."

Cat raised an eyebrow, "You're kidding..."

Ron laughed and said, "Try it. You'll love it, I promise."

Cat reached to the wrap with her false limb, finding a perfectly aired up bubble and took it between her thumb and forefinger. She gave it a little squeeze, but instead of the reaction Ron was hoping for, when the bubble popped, Cat shot up from the chair she was sitting in and backed away, knocking her chair over and hugging her back to the stove behind her.

Ron dropped the bubble wrapping and put his hands up to try and settle the young fighter, "It's okay! Just calm down!"

"It sounded like small arms fire!" Cat glared down at the helpless plastic.

"It-" Ron stopped himself. 'Poor kid...' he thought sadly, "I'm sorry, Cat. Kids usually get a kick out that when they pop those little buggers."

Cat looked up to him, "Children... Children play with those?"

"I've never met a kid that didn't like to annoy the hell out of me by having the need to pop every single one of those damn things. Sam used to love them when he was a little boy," Ron explained.

Cat stared back down at the wrapping, "I see..."

"I'll just throw this out," he took the bubble plastic and threw it away in the trash can, "There. No more surprises, I promise."

Cat relaxed away from the stove slowly. She picked up the dining room chair and put it back in its place.

"Hey Cat," she jumped at the sound of Sam's voice, tripping over the same chair in the dining room and falling to the ground.

"Sam!" Ron scolded.

"Sorry..." the boy apologized.

"What a day..." Cat mumbled as she managed to bring herself to stand. She turned around and faced Sam and Mikaela, bright smiles on their faces, "What are you guys doing back so soon?"

"The college that visited today wasn't anything that either of us were interested in, so we came back," Mikaela explained, still smiling, "But we thought of something to do, and thought that maybe you'd like to join us."

"Oh? What's that?" Cat asked, curious once again.

--

Cat watched as a group of people flew by her on their skates. The skating rink was nearly empty, which made it perfect for a newby skater.

"So..." Cat began as she watched the other humans skate around the oval rink, "People put on shoes with wheels on the bottom... And they roll around on slick, wooden floors?"

"Yeah, it's great!" Mikaela beamed as she took hold of Cat's arm, pulling her to the rental department, "You'll love it, I promise!"

'I've heard _that_ one already today...' Cat grimaced.

Sam had already exchanged his sneakers for a pair of rollerblades, and was sitting at a nearby table, putting the strange-looking shoes on.

"Take off your shoes, Cat," Mikaela advised as she did the same thing.

They brought their shoes to the counter and a man approached them, "What can I do for you ladies?"

"I'll need size six skates, and she'll need size seven skates," Mikaela smiled.

"No problem," the man took their regular shoes and brought back two pairs of old, worn out skates. They were both brown-ish colored, with orange wheels and numbers embroidered on the back, "Here you go, ladies."

"Thanks," Mikaela took the skates, "Come on, let's get these babies on!"

They sat down at the same table that Sam had been sitting in waiting for the two girls. Mikaela demonstrated how they were tied on, Cat doing the same.

"You two ready yet?" Sam stood up, smirking at Cat as she couldn't have looked anymore confused as she did then.

"Yeah, I think so," Mikaela replied as she stood up on her skates.

"They're a little tight," Cat thought aloud.

"They're supposed to be a little snug. Now come on, let's see you stand up on them," Mikaela and Sam both pulled Cat up from sitting, standing her up in her skates for the first time.

"Hmm... This... isn't so bad!" Cat realized that she was doing good so far.

"See? You'll get the hang of it. Now come on, let's get out on the rink and test them out!" Mikaela smiled brightly as she and Sam rolled on the thin carpet over to the opening for the rink.

"You coming?" Sam asked Cat as they waited for her.

Cat nodded as she picked up her foot and set it down in front of her, walking in the skates slowly. Sam and Mikaela both laughed at the girl.

"What?" Cat asked.

"You're supposed to roll yourself across the floor, not walk in them," Sam explained.

"Roll, huh?" Cat looked down to her feet and gave a slight push off with her left foot, the skates rolling along the carpet, "This is easier than I thought it would -"

Cat suddenly felt one of the skates slip out from under her, causing her to fall backwards, landing on her bottom.

"Ow..."

--

Sam and Mikaela were skating like pros, passing Cat every turn as they watched her cling to the outside wall of the rink.

"Come on, Cat!" Sam yelled as they passed her once again, "Just give it a try!"

"Oh I think I'm doing fine..." Cat replied, inching her way along the floor, "how and the hell do they enjoy this?!"

The teens took off around the corner. Cat pulled herself along the edging of the wall, suddenly noticing a couple and their small child skating behind her.

"Good job!" the mother encouraged as she pulled her young son along. The little boy had a helmet and pads on, however they managed to pass Cat up with great speed.

She frowned as they made their way past her, "Even little kids can do it better than me..."

A group of teenage boys approached her. Her frown deepened as she heard them jeer at her.

"Look at the ba-a-aby!" One of them pointed and laughed.

"Watch out! Those big, bad skates might eat you alive!" another laughed.

Cat stopped and looked back at them, glaring as they started to pass her. Before they could get away, she "accidentally" left her foot out in their pathway, tripping one, which caused the others to fall over him.

"Oops!" Cat said sarcastically, "Looks like I'm not the only one who needs lessons!" an evil smile crossed her face.

The group of boys got up and piled off of the rink, leaving without causing a scene. Cat continued on her trek a little more before she decided that enough was enough.

"I've been shocked, shot, impaled, fallen from hundreds of feet in the air, had my arm and legs amputated, and for some reason I'm afraid of these little wheeles on the bottom of my feet..." She brought her head up with a new, determined look on her face, "Let's do it..."

Taking a ready stance, Cat put both of her hands against the wall and gave a heavy push away from it, rolling out towards the middle of the rink. She tightened her muscles as she fought to stay steady and balanced. Her arms flailed around as she subconsciously tried to grab at something to hold onto. When she finally felt steady, she began to push off into a slight roll, skating along slowly but steadily. She rounded on the middle divider of the rink, thinking that she would finally catch up with Sam and Mikaela. She began skating like a natural; feeling proud of herself as she glided across the floors smoothly. Cat let the muscles in her legs relax a little as she began feeling balanced with each movement of the skates.

"This is actually pretty nice!" Cat smiled as she sped up, leaning into the first curve with ease.

She started looking around, "Where'd the kids go off to?"

"WATCH OUT!" The unmistakable warning from Mikaela could be heard from behind as Cat turned her head and saw Sam barreling at her as he also turned and looked forward.

Before either of them could react, Sam bashed into Cat, both of them tumbling over onto the hard floor.

Mikaela slowly approached. Cat was sprawled out onto the floor, face first, and Sam was curled up nursing the two fingers that he nearly sprained during his fall.

Mikaela shook her head and sighed, "I told you to watch out around the corners..."

"Ow..." Cat and Sam both groaned.

--

It was late in the evening, and everyone in the Witwicky house had gone to bed, with the exception of Ron. He was sneaking a late night snack, and was on his way back up to bed for the night. Checking the doors and windows, Ron made his last rounds through the house to make sure everything was secure and locked down for the evening. Once he was satisfied, he made his way up the stairs, but stopped halfway up.

_pop...pop pop... pop..._

"What's that?" Ron made his way up the stairs and began looking down the hallway, trying to figure out where the noise was coming from. He stopped, looking down at the end of the hall and shook his head with a sigh.

Walking to Sam's bedroom door, Ron gave a few hard knocks, "Sam, knock it off and go to bed!"

The teenager opened the door, a sleepy, confused expression on his face, "Dad?" he yawned, "What's up?"

Ron looked down to his son and saw that he was half asleep and just as confused looking as _he_ felt, "If it's not you..." he looked down the hallway, Sam squinting sleepily in the same direction.

_poppoppop...pop...pop pop...pop.._

The two walked halfway down the hallway until they reached Cat's bedroom door.

_POP...POPPOP...POP _

This seemed to be where the noise was coming from all right.

"What _is _that?" Sam asked, suddenly realizing what it was that his father was rapping on his door about.

Ron suddenly smiled and chuckled, taking Sam by the shoulder and turning him back towards his room, "I think Cat's getting the chance to start acting like a real kid."

--

A/N

Sorry about the lateness in all of my updates folks. School is taking up a lot of my worries, and I've just started actually doing stuff with my Deviant Art account. Right now I've only got my photos up, but I'm actually hoping to finish the pencil portrait of Cat here soon, so check out my profile to find the link to my account and keep an eye out for it!


	9. Girl Talks

Hi guys! How are all of you? I tried to update my profile, but every time I did it would delete what I had just written when I tried to save it! Anyone else have that problem? Maybe it was a one day thing, I dunno... Weird! Anyway, I'll put up here what I tried to post there for you all just as an update, in case I can't get my profile to work ever ever again!

FORD B: Thank you very much! I'll try to keep doing well for you and the rest of my readers!

Moonpiper: Oh, I'm definitely sure she'll get the chance to do a lot of things that she never has before! ;)

Disclaimer: I don't own transformers, I own Cat.

Enjoy!

OH! And this chapter was also brought you with the help of FORD B. Thanks for the critique! It was extremely helpful in getting me to make the decision to write this out (finally)! =D

--

She couldn't run fast enough. It followed her like an animal stalking its prey. Breathing heavily, she finally hit a wall, unable to go any further. The wall seemed to be invisible, showing only what was on the outside, but now allowing her to go any further. Sick, demented snickering could be heard behind her as she spun around, her back as far to the wall as it could possibly go. Voices were heard all around her.

_Push her further..._

_Not good enough..._

_The coward keeps running..._

_Come now, Seven... You're only prolonging death..._

_KILL HER NOW!_

Cat panicked, she turned back to the wall, seeing the bright sun which she had only just gotten used to seeing, set. The bright colors of fire red and orange were so bright and serene. She banged her fists against the invisible force that held her in place. Her eyes filling with hot tears as she yelled, her voice not able to be heard. The sun and the bright green fields of grass that the light reflected off of in a yellow hue began to fade slowly as if it were leaving her there to suffer alone. Cat stopped banging her fists against the pane of the forcefield as her hands slid down slowly, her eyes watching as the sun disappeared into the darkness.

_Stupid rat, you weren't meant to be among society..._

_It's time that you realized just how useless you really are..._

"...I'm not useless..." Cat lowered her head.

_Don't be so ignorant..._

_Of course you're useless..._

_Why do you think that no one knew you existed?_

The voices were from her past, whispering taunts all around her.

"They know now..." Cat turned her head towards the open darkness behind her, her azure eye glaring at whoever or whatever it was that was saying such things to her.

_It's time to face your fate Seven..._

Cat turned around fully to the voices, sweat across her brow, her hair falling around her face, covering her eyes as she kept her head lowered.

"My name's Cat..."

_You don't deserve a name... You're just a number in the world..._

_Seven..._

"My name is Cat..." she said a bit louder.

_Come with us now, Seven..._

_Seven..._

"Stop calling me that!" Cat raised her eyes tears falling down her face. She felt helpless, but that wasn't going to stop her from disproving the voices.

_Seven..._

_Seven..._

_Seven..._

The voices continued to call to her.

"STOP CALLING ME THAT!" Cat balled up her fists, yelling into the darkness.

_It's time for you to die..._

"NO! Not today, not EVER!" Cat began thrashing at the nothing in front of her, hoping to land a target.

Something suddenly moved out of the corner of her eye, but before she could turn it had already smashed into her side, pushing her back and continuing to knock her around with powerful hits.

Cat could feel cuts all over her body beginning to bleed.

"Leave - me - alone!" She cried out, desperate to fight back, but not getting a single hit on whatever it was that was doing this to her.

Cat threw her fists in every direction, trying to fight back hastily, "LEAVE. ME ALO-O-O-NE!"

--

"-ONE!" Cat shot up in bed, her mind on high alert as she pushed back the covers and tumbled out of bed onto the floor.

"Cat, Cat slow down, it's all right!" The familiar voice of Mikaela tried to calm the situation as Cat felt a hand to her shoulder.

Cat's body shook violently as her mind raced. Was it real? Was she back in safety? Or was it all just a fantasy that she had during her long stay back in her old hell?

"Where are they?! Where'd they go?!" Cat asked, fighting against the gentle hold on her shoulder.

"No one's here! Listen to me, Cat, there's no one here but you and me, okay?" Mikaela managed to calm her friend down long enough for Cat to realize that she was no longer within her nightmare.

Cat had barely caught her breath before she realized that Mikaela was actually sitting next to her on the floor, a highly concerned expression crossing the young girls face. Cat's chest heaved as she took in one large breath after another. Her whole body was slick with sweat, her hair nearly drenched. Although she was in such a state, she suddenly remembered that she had, once again, managed to wreak havoc for everyone with another night terror.

Looking around the room from the floor Cat asked, "Did I wake - everyone - again?"

Mikaela shook her head, "No. You know this family, they can sleep through earthquakes... literally.."

Cat managed a small laugh and was about to pull herself up from the floor when she suddenly realized something...

Looking up to her clock, she saw the green numbers shining "1:19 AM". She looked back to Mikaela and said, "What are you doing here so late?"

A sudden bright-as-the-sun light beamed into the bedroom, Mikaela and Cat turning to see the headlights of Bumblebee's chest plates directed at them. Cat covered her sleepy, sensitive eyes and Mikaela smiled as the Autobot looked on into the dwelling as if to question what the commotion was about.

Mikaela helped Cat to her feet and said, "Bumblebee and I heard you yelling and he let me in the window," Just after saying this, the teen noticed something odd about Cat's left hand. She nearly gasped and took hold of the older girl's arm saying, "You're hand!"

Unbeknownst to Cat, she had hit the ceramic lamp on the other side of the bed and broken it, causing shards of the hardened substance to cut her hand in several places.

--

Sitting in a small room in the Tranquility emergency room, Cat's frown couldn't have deepened, even if she wanted to. She sat on the bed with a towel wrapped around her left hand. Mikaela sat in the room with her, reading laid out magazines. Of course Mikaela wasn't your ordinary teen girl, as the magazine she was reading was a Chevrolet performance edition. Every now and then Cat gave an annoyed scoff, just to let Mikaela know how unhappy she was being there.

Mikaela had opted to ignore Cat's whines, but this time she decided to speak up, "Come on, Cat, it's not that bad. They're just going to stitch you up a little and we'll be out of here."

"I don't want to be here..." Cat sighed.

"Well you heard Ratchet. He can't possibly stitch you up being as big as he is and as small as you are. This was the next best thing, besides me trying to do it under his supervision."

"And you have a blood phobia, I know, I know..." Cat rolled her eyes.

Mikaela smiled, "Sorry, otherwise I'd do it," she went back to looking through the magazine.

Cat sighed again, annoyed even more so that the hospital staff were lazily walking about, seemingly having no interest in getting her in and out quickly. Her thoughts strayed to the nights events. The fact that she had such terror that she actually damaged something this time worried her. Usually she would wake up in a cold sweat and stay up for the rest of the night watching late night comedy shows or cartoons. But for some reason, this time, she managed to do some major damage. It was the exact reason why she had warned Sam and his parents not to come and wake her if she were having the terrors. If they came in to break her out of the dream, she might wake with such a startle that she could possibly harm them. Being that she had her powerful right arm, she could even kill one of them. Which is probably the reason why they didn't come in to wake her tonight after all the noise she made. They were most likely awake and listening to her, but they didn't dare barging into the room, for fear of their own lives. Sam's mom, of course, suggested that perhaps she take sedatives to ward off the bad dreams, however Cat disliked being so tired after waking from a half a day's slumber. Even then, Cat thought that maybe her dreams would mean something, so she didn't want to block them, in case she were to learn anything important. Especially since she still couldn't remember how or what caused the fusion between Five and herself.

As Cat sat in silence momentarily, a thought came to mind and she looked across the small room to Mikaela, "You never answered my question."

Mikaela looked up to the curious face of Cat and asked, "What question?"

"What were you doing visiting so late?" Cat asked.

"Oh, that, "Mikaela sighed and looked away for a moment, "My mom and I got into another huge argument... It was over something so stupid, so I took off to cool down. The only place I could think of that was a safe-haven was Sam's house..."

"Oh..." Cat could only respond lightly. She'd known that Mikaela had some home problems at home, and she didn't want to pry, but like Sam and his parents, she would like to have offered any kind of help that she could give.

At that moment, Mikaela's cell phone rang. Cat watched as she reached into her purse and pulled it out, checking the screen.

"It's Optimus. I'll be right back," Mikaela said as she answered her phone and walked out of the emergency room, knowing that the rules were that you were supposed to keep all cellular devices turned off.

Cat sat in annoyance for a moment before she saw something. Her head perked up as she noticed a male doctor writing on a ledger. She was about to fuss about the time it was taking, when a female doctor crept up behind the other one and spooked him. Cat listened carefully the conversation.

"Don't do that! I nearly had to rewrite this whole thing!" the man grouched.

"Someone's been on his shift a little too long," the blond, female flirted.

"How can you be so chipper after a sixteen hour shift?" the man asked.

"I'm off the next four days! In less than an hour I'm out of here without another thought of this place for four, whole days!" she leaned up against the counter.

Cat noticed a sudden smirk that crossed the male doctor's face, "And just what are you planning to do for those days off?" He leaned next to the woman and towered over her with a sudden look of dominance.

"I don't know," the woman taunted, "I guess I'll have to find something to do. Care to join?" She grasped at his white coat as he leaned in, the two sharing a sweet moment together.

"All right you two!" an older, larger woman crept out from behind them, wearing the head nurses uniform, "You've only got a little while left, you can wait a whole thirty minutes before you're all over each other!"

The two doctors separated with a groan and parted ways.

Cat was left in deep thought. Even being as upset as she was, a simple moment of human interaction had her confused.

Mikaela walked back into the room, putting the phone back in her purse, "They suddenly wanted to know how you got all cut up."

Cat looked alarmed, "You didn't tell them did you?"

Mikaela's lips pulled out to the side in an "oops" fashion, "Ratchet wanted me to demand that the guys here give you a strong sedative..."

Cat rolled her eyes, "Of course..."

"Sorry," Mikaela smiled as she sat back down. She nearly picked up another magazine when she noticed the look of disdain on Cat's face. It wasn't the same look that she had given earlier when she was merely unhappy about being in the emergency room. It was the look of realization.

"Something the matter?" Mikaela asked.

Cat came out of her thoughts and looked to her friend.

"Can I... ask you something?" Cat queried.

"Sure," Mikaela was certain that this was going to be another one of those questions that Cat had about normal human stuff.

"I mean.. I think I know part of the reason but... Well... Why do humans have relationships with each other?" Cat asked.

"Oh..." This wasn't your average 'why do they do that' question, this was one of those birds and bees questions.

"Well," Mikaela started, "I mean you know how... umm... You know how babies are born, right?"

Cat nodded.

"Okay.. uh, whew, that saves me some time and embarrassment... Okay, well I guess it's because it's the natural order of things."

"Natural order?" Cat asked.

"You know, humans have children to carry on the their bloodline, that sort of thing," Mikaela explained.

"So... We have children in order to play our role in the natural order?" Cat didn't understand, "So that's like, the logistical standpoint of it?"

"Well no... The logic of it?" Mikaela had to think, "There's only one thing logical about it, and I guess it's that no one wants to be alone."

"Alone? You mean like... They don't have friends or people they care about if they don't find a mate?" Cat asked.

"No, no! Of course not. It's just that, people feel alone when they don't have someone to hold onto. Someone they can always feel safe with, and count on when they need to. Someone who loves and cherishes them until the end of their days. Someone who holds them and doesn't have to say a word in order for the other to know how much they care about them," Mikaela smiled softly as she thought about the things she spoke of.

Cat watched the reaction that came over Mikaela's face. She noticed how much she enjoyed the pleasant things that she was describing.

'Alone...' Cat thought, 'So humans who don't have someone to love are... alone?'

"Well now," a different male doctor walked into the room, followed by a nurse who was carrying instruments for numbing and stitching, "Are we ready to get all nice and fixed up?"

Mikaela looked to Cat, who only nodded in reply. The teen's smile faded as she realized that her friend, whom she knew was going to protest and lecture the pants off of them, suddenly went quiet. Did she say something wrong?

--

Bumblebee pulled up into the driveway quietly, although there was no use for that. Sam was on the back patio, Ron and Judy were sitting at the kitchen table drinking a warm mug of coffee. It was obvious that there had been enough noise, earlier, to wake the household.

"Oh man..." Cat slumped in the passenger seat.

Mikaela smiled only a little. She wasn't worried about the Witwicky's being awake so much as she was worried about the fact that Cat hadn't said a word since they had left the hospital.

Bumblebee came to a stop, Sam waving with tired eyes at the Autobot and his passengers, Mikaela and Cat getting out of the sleek Camaro.

"Hey," Sam yawned, "Where'd you guys go?"

"Cat had a little problem with her nightmares tonight," Mikaela walked around the front bumper of the Autobot's alternate form.

Cat brought her left hand up, showing the results, "Just a little cut..." she would have liked nothing more than to not have the stares of everyone on her.

Ron and Judy both scurried out the back door, a yawning Mojo following them.

"What are you girls doing up so late?" Ron asked.

"It's all right," Cat reassured.

Judy gasped, "Your hand!" she grabbed Cat's arm, the older couple staring at the wrapped appendage.

"What happened?!" Ron grouched.

"I had one of those nightmares..." Cat admitted, "And I sort of hit and broke the lamp next to the bed. I'm sorry, I'll pay for it."

"Oh, Cat," Judy waved the young fighters' statement off, "It's just an old lamp! You've only got," she stopped herself for a second and looked to Cat's right arm," one of these."

Cat smiled, "Yeah, I guess..."

Everyone went silent for a moment, no one could think of anything else to say about the situation.

"Well I..." Cat started, "I should get back to bed... Goodnight," She feigned a yawn and walked through the group, heading into the house and up to her room.

"We should probably do the same," Ron said in a tired voice, "Come on, honey," he put an arm around Judy's shoulders as they said their goodnights and went inside the house.

"So," Sam asked Mikaela, "What are you doing up so late?"

Mikaela sighed and sat on the tabletop of the outdoor furniture set, "You know why..."

Sam sat down next to Mikaela and put a protective arm around her, "Again? What about this time?"

"She wants me to go to college for the major of her choice, and I'm not sure _what_ I want to do yet..." Mikaela explained.

"Oh.. Well, you do whatever you want to do.. It's not her choice, it's yours!" Sam supported Mikaela in her decision. He really felt that she could do well with whatever it was she wanted to do. And if she wanted to be a mechanic, why not let her?

However Sam knew that her mother was completely against Mikaela doing what her father did, fearing that she would turn to the same activities that he got into when business would slow down, and he still had to support his family. Sam knew that Mikaela's mom meant well by trying to keep her out of the "family trade" as it were. But he also believed in the abilities of Mikaela, and that she would find better ways to work through the challenges that life would throw at her.

Mikaela looked up to Sam with a smile and said, "Thanks."

--

Cat walked back into her bedroom, turning on the light and looking across the room to the side of the bed, where she noticed the ceramic lamp base that sat on the floor in hudreds of shards. She sighed and walked over, dragging the small trash can with her so she could carefully pick up the pieces and throw them away. She sat on the floor and began picking up each and every little piece.

"Cat?" The voice of Judy asked in the doorway.

Cat looked up and saw Sam's mom poking her head in, looking at what the younger woman was up to.

Cat sat up a little, pointing to the piece she was holding, "I'm sorry about this, I'll pay for it..."

Judy walked in and closed the door behind her, "Why are you picking those up? You've already cut yourself on them once tonight," she brought along with her a small floor brush and a dustpan, "Here, this will make it easier," Judy sat on the floor with Cat and brushed the small, crumbled remnants of the lamp.

"I guess I didn't think of that," Cats frown deepened.

Judy looked to Cat and noticed the look of disdain, "Something the matter?"

Cat realized, just then, that she must have looked distraught. She straightened up in a snap and changed the expression on her face to a mock smile, "Should there be?"

"Well," Judy started, "You did, sort of, have another bad night. Anything you'd like to talk about?"

"Oh, uh, "Cats eyes strayed, trying to think of something intelligent to say, "It's... you know... Same old, same old..." She got up and looked out the window of the room, seeing Bumblebee in his bipedal mode talking to Sam and Mikaela.

"Well," Judy stood, and in a soft, motherly tone said, "It's not _supposed_ to be that way, you know."

Cat sighed, "I know..."

Judy suddenly realized that the dream Cat had may not have been the problem. No, something definitely seemed different about this.

"This isn't about your nightmare, is it?" Judy asked.

Cat looked to Sam's mom, trying to think of a decent lie, but when she looked into the older womans eyes, she knew that Judy wouldn't fall for anything other than the truth.

"Well," Cat crossed her arms and leaned back against the wall, "I asked Mikaela why humans, " Cat saw the frown that appeared on Judy's face and knew that she had mistaken her wording again, "I mean -people-," the frown disappeared from Judy's face, "have relationships with one another..."

"Oh," Judy realized that this was the kind of conversation she's always wanted to have with her own daughter... Of course Sam was a bit of a challenge, but this could be her chance to talk the way she's always wanted to!

"And what has Mikaela told you so far?" Judy asked, curious as to what Cat's been informed about by a younger generation.

"Just that we're all bound by 'the order of things' and that no one wants to be... alone..." Cat replied.

"Ah, well yes, that about sums it up," Judy put her hands behind her back, "But, you know, it's not everything."

Cat looked up, an inquisitive look on her face, "It's... it's not?"

"Of course not," Judy smiled, "It's not really about continuing on a tradition, it's about finding your soul mate."

"Soul mate?" Cat asked, now she was really confused...

"Yeah! Your soul mate is the person who you were always meant to be with. The person who understands you on a level that only the two of you can understand. Your soul mate, "Judy continued," is the person that, some say, is the piece of you that makes life feel complete. The person that makes you happy no matter what."

"So," Cat thought aloud, "It's about finding the piece of you that was missing?"

Judy nodded, a giant smile plastered on her face from ear to ear.

"So what if you don't ever find that person?" Cat asked, "What if you find yourself alone for the rest of your life?"

"You'll find them," Judy said simply, "You'll never be alone, Cat. You're not alone now, and one day you'll know when you're complete. You'll know the moment that you find that special someone."

"But how?"

"With all of your being," Judy explained, "When you feel like there's nothing else to accomplish. But you're the only one who will know when that happens."

At that moment, Cat felt a heavy burden lift from her shoulders. She understood what Mikaela was trying to tell her, but she felt relieved at what Judy had just explained to her.

The two stood there for a moment in thought before Judy spoke up, "Well!" she said with entheusiasm, "I'll just finish this up and let you get some sleep."

Just as the older woman finished the job of cleaning up the rest of the lamp and was about to walk out the door - ,"Wait!" Cat stopped her, Judy turning to face her.

"Um..." Cat looked around, "Thank you.."

Judy smiled and replied, "You're very welcome."

The door closed and Cat, feeling a little more at ease from the nights events and talks, finally felt like she could sleep without any guilt or pain in her heart. If only for one night, she would sleep without tossing and turning.

--

Thanks for reading guys! I hope everyone had a good memorial day weekend! I know I enjoyed my three day weekend! *sigh* if only we could have those more often...


	10. From time to time

These are the random events that take place from the beginning to the ending of Cat living at the Witwicky's. Little ficlets about random expressions and things Cat learns about that are too short to put in their own chapter.

FORD B: Hehe I'll try to keep dishing out the loops. I don't like my readers knowing what's in my head lol . Oooo, here's a question for you, personally. Who might you, given the entire cast of characters that are in Soul Recon up to this point, think would make as the best match for Cat? Now the given is that I've already paired her, but as someone who's followed this series from the beginning, what are your thoughts?

Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers.

Please enjoy!

--

**The "Human" Element**

"Dinner!" Judy called throughout the house.

Several "booms" and "clangs" suddenly broke out around all corners of the house. Judy sat down at the table and prepared herself for the dinner rush. Sam and Ron appeared in a flash, their stomachs growling from the wonderful smells of food that had been teasing them since Judy had started making dinner. They sat themselves down at the table with starving looks on their faces.

"Looks great hon!" Ron complimented.

"Yeah, great stuff mom," Sam added without even thinking twice about it as he dug the serving spoon in a vat of potatoes, dumping a rather large serving of them on his plate.

"Well where's Ca-" Judy started, "Oh, there you are!"

Cat casually made her way to the dining room, sitting at the table politely.

"For someone who wasn't fed on a regular basis, Cat has the best manners in the house!" Judy commented with a smile, Ron and Sam ignoring her as they were completely engrossed in shoveling food into their mouths.

"Eh," Cat replied, "You learn to be patient. It's just food."

"Well not anymore it's not!" Judy stated, "I promised Doctor Thacker that I would take care of you and feed you the proper nutrition, and I intend on doing just that!"

Cat smiled as Judy continued, "You've got to start remembering that you're a person too!"

"Not really," Cat contradicted, "My physical well-being depends on taking in less nutrients than your average human. I could survive on just a few sips of water for days at a time if needed."

"Well it's _not_ needed!" Judy frowned, "And stop with that 'human' thing! You are just like us, and we are all people!"

"I'm sorry.." Cat apologized, "I'm still stuck in my old self... I just have problems seeing any sort of likeness between me and... er... _people_.."

"Well no more of that!" Judy said happily, "We're going to have you all turned around in no time!"

Cat gave a faint smile as she began taking small bites of food. She wondered if she could ever really feel like a person instead of a weapon..

------

**Sun... Burns??**

It was late in the afternoon, and Cat had the entire place to herself. The Witwicky's were out for a little while, and Bumblebee was staying quite in the garage as he spent his time finding good tunes to listen to while he was bored. Cat had fallen asleep on one of the laid out beach chairs behind the house. She'd decided that it was the best place to listen to the quiet sounds of nature. It wasn't something that she was used to knowing anything about, but it was something that was easy to get used to. The sun was her new, favorite part about being on the outside of that cold lab. It was so warm and comforting. Her muscles always felt better after bathing in the sunlight, and it was a nice reminder that no one was going to take her new found freedom away from her. Cat snored ever so slightly as she slept comfortably.

Sam and his parents came home earlier than expected, and of course they were arguing as they walked through the front door.

"I'm just saying!" Sam defended, "I'm not going out with the family again if grandma won't stop hitting on the waiters!"

"Oh, Sam!" Judy laughed, "She's not dead! Maybe she needs a little _luvin'_ sometimes, too!"

"Besides," Ron added, "She wasn't going overboard, she was just kidding around!"

"Kidding around.. So when she told that guy, who's in my grade by the way, that she'd kiss him but she was afraid her dentures would fall out if it got too hot; that wasn't going overboard?!" Sam argued.

"Nana Witwicky has always been a little odd, you know that," Ron waved off his son.

"Yeah, well, I'm not going out to eat with all of them anymore.." Sam began to stomp his way up to his room.

"AHHHHHH!" A screech from the back of the house caught the attention from Sam and his parents.

"CAT!" The three chorused as they all made a run for the back patio. Their thoughts were uncertain. Was it a Decepticon? Did she fall, using her crutches?

The sliding glass door flew open and the family emerged from the house. Sam noticed that Bumblebee had also peered from the garage, as if to ask what the commotion was about. They caught sight of Cat on the beach chair. She was sitting up, looking over her arms and legs.

"What's going on here?!" Ron asked as they approached her.

"What happened to me?!" Cat asked, feeling a strange stinging sensation all over her legs, her left arm and even her face.

"What? You mean this?" Sam asked, poking at Cats arm, which left a faintly pale spot for several seconds before disappearing.

"Yeah! I fell asleep, and the next thing I know, I wake up and I'm red like this..." Cat explained.

Judy sighed and said, "I'll get the Aloe."

"You've been burned by the sun," Sam chuckled.

"But... I wasn't even out here that long!" Cat had never experienced a sunburn before, so of course, this confused her greatly.

"What time did you come out here?" Ron asked.

"When you guys left!" Cat said, thinking that they couldn't have been gone for more than a few minutes.

"Did you fall asleep?" Sam asked.

"Well... I suppose I did, but it hasn't been more than a few minutes!" Cat claimed.

"Cat, we've been gone for over four hours!" Ron revealed.

"...Oh damn...."

"Think of it this way, Cat," Sam laughed, "Maybe you'll get a nice tan out of this, huh?"

Cat hissed as touched her metal finger to the opposite arm and watched as it changed color, "Owie, ow ow ow..."

--

**Cows do what now?**

Cat had gotten ready for bed hours ago. The house was quiet and airy. The siding of the house creaked as it settled during the normal cooled night. Cat sat cross-legged on her bed staring out the window, watching as a few, sparse clouds rolled by slowly and smoothly. It was a normal practice for the girl. Sometimes she just couldn't sleep, so she stayed as still and as quiet as possible to slow her thoughts and calm her soul. It was different for her, being in surroundings where she didn't have to listen to machinery 'cling' and 'clang' as well as the loud buzzing noises interrupt her sleep, and she liked it very much. The house, the neighborhood, heck the entire town was deep in slumber. Well, everything except -

"Honey, stop it!" Ron yelled in a loud whisper.

"I'm serious, Ron!" Judy's voice was distinct, even in a whisper, "Diabetes, heart problems; I could talk about all of it until the cows come home!"

"Cows?" Cat asked as she peeked outside of her bedroom door.

The couple stopped as they made their way downstairs and looked to the younger woman in surprise.

"You woke her up!" Judy lamented her husband.

"_I _woke her up?! I don't have a voice that can shatter glass!" Ron pointed a finger at Judy as he continued down the stairs.

Judy sighed and turned to Cat, "Sorry, sweety. You can go back to bed."

"Are... Are there cows coming?" Cat asked.

The older woman smiled and laughed lightly, "No, thank god... It's an expression. It means that you could do 'whatever' it is that you're talking about until the end of time."

"Ah..." Cat nodded in aknowledgement, "Um.. Goodnight.."

"Goodnight, dear," Judy smiled before turning back to walking down the stairs.

Cat gently closed the door and turned towards her bed. Her face had gone from relaxed, to 'what-the-hell?'. She walked back to her bed and thought "Humans think of so many odd things to say..."

--

**Offline**

"Dammit!" Sam yelled from the back porch. He was sitting at the new outdoor patio table with his new laptop. It was evening. The sunset had nearly gone down to the point of pitch darkness, which meant-

"Yo, Sam!" A familiar voice called out from behind the back fence.

Sam looked up as he heard the metal grinding and shifting forms, seeing the headgear of Jazz pop up first. The silver bot jumped over the privacy fence and was soon followed by none other than the weapons specialist himself. Ironhide was, of course, brooding over one thing or another as he carefully stepped over the fence and made sure not to get as close as the fresh concrete that lined the yard.

"Hey guys," Sam was a bit nervous about the Autobots always popping in for a visit. It always brought Bumblebee out of hiding, and he feared one of his neighbors may see them and either have a heart attack or call the cops.... Those policeman were going to start charging them if they had to come visit the house too often...

"What's a matta?" Jazz asked with a large grin.

"Oh, it's just that I got this new computer for classes, and I can't get the wireless network card to work for more than a few seconds..." Sam answered, looking back to his computer to try and diagnose the problem at hand.

A window upstairs shot open and Cat looked out with her own grin, "Hey guys!"

"Hey, Cat!" Jazz greeted.

Ironhide 'hrmmed' and nodded in a less-than-excitable tone.

"What are you guys doing here? I thought you got your own little parking garage to stay in?" Cat asked.

"'Little' is correct.." Ironhide growled deeply, "There's not enough room for all of us to sit in our alternate forms comfortably..."

"Yeah, I think Optimus is gonna have a word with one of those contacts to get somethin' better..." Jazz agreed.

Cat frowned with empathy, "Sorry to hear that. You staying at the Lookout, then?"

"Don't have much of a choice..." Ironhide replied.

Cat smiled a little, but looked down to see Sam playing with his computer, "Oh! Sam!" she yelled.

"I'm kind of busy right now, Cat," Sam replied, annoyed that his new piece of technology was less than easy to use.

"Ummm... Okay, but I was going to tell you that the new wireless hub router is offline!"

"Offline?!" Jazz sounded shocked.

"What?! Why?!" Sam whined as he shifted quickly in his seat to look up at the girl.

Cat shrugged, "I told your dad that it just needed a little set-up and uh... He's 'fixing' it..."

"And you _let_ him?" Sam was deeply annoyed.

"Oh, you know how he is... He gave his 'Nothing doing' speech and went on and on about how he's 'Mr. Fix-it'... I'll let him have fun with it for a while and fix it for you later, okay?" Cat laughed.

"...I guess I can start my summer work for my advanced classes on the desktop..." Sam sighed and closed the lid to the laptop.

"You can fix things after they've been offlined?" Ironhide asked.

Cat looked to the two, she herself, was confused, "Well, yeah... It's just temporary until I get it to work again later."

"Oh," Cat noticed how the two looked a little relieved as Jazz spoke, "You guys have a different meaning to 'offline' than us!"

"What's it mean to you guys?" Sam asked.

"Death, or near-death," Ironhide answered.

"Near-death?" Cat raised an eyebrow, "How can it mean both 'death' _and_ 'near-death'?"

"Hmm," Jazz thought for a moment while he researched any terms that would fit the description of what it was he was trying to translate, "I guess the closest term for you guys is 'coma'."

"Oh," Cat and Sam both nodded slightly.

"Cat!" The girl turned back inside the house as she heard Rons' voice.

"Yeah?" she answered.

"... I think this damn thing is broken!" he yelled.

Cat turned towards Sam and the others and smiled, yelling back, "Be right there!"

---

A/N

I'll have more little ficlets like this when I think of some more. In the mean time, any of you that have any ideas, I welcome any advice!


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